内容摘要：Just a year later, Time Magazine wrote that the holiday had become “a three-day nationwide hootenanny that seems to have lost much of its original purpose.”

Just a year later, Time Magazine wrote that the holiday had become “a three-day nationwide hootenanny that seems to have lost much of its original purpose.”

Shiite clergy speak at the Sayyida Zeinab Shrine, where many Shiite Muslims believe Zeinab, the granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad, is entombed, in Sayyida Zeinab, south of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)Shiite clergy speak at the Sayyida Zeinab Shrine, where many Shiite Muslims believe Zeinab, the granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad, is entombed, in Sayyida Zeinab, south of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

, the Sayyida Zeinab area has sufferedIn January, state mediathat intelligence officials in

thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to set off a bomb at the shrine. The announcement appeared to be an attempt by Syria’s new leaders to reassure religious minorities, including those seen as having supported Assad’s former government.Al-Khatib, who moved his family from Aleppo province to the Sayyida Zeinab area shortly before Assad’s fall, said Assad had branded himself as a protector of minorities. “When killings, mobilization ... and sectarian polarization began,” the narrative “of the regime and its allies was that ‘you, as a Shiite, you as a minority member, will be killed if I fall.’”

The involvement of Sunni jihadis and some hardline foreign Shiite fighters fanned sectarian flames, he said.

The Syria conflict began as one of several uprisings against Arab dictators before Assad brutally crushed what started as largely peaceful protests and a civil war erupted. It became increasingly foughtA woman sits on speakers playing music during a Red Devils bus exhibition in La Chorrera, Panama, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

The driver of a Red Devil tourist bus calls for customers along the Amador Causeway in Panama City, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. The Red Devils are former U.S. school buses once used in the Panama Canal Zone and later as public transport or adapted for private and cultural use. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)The driver of a Red Devil tourist bus calls for customers along the Amador Causeway in Panama City, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. The Red Devils are former U.S. school buses once used in the Panama Canal Zone and later as public transport or adapted for private and cultural use. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A waitress serves patrons inside a Red Devil restaurant in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)A waitress serves patrons inside a Red Devil restaurant in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)