Iran resumes Muslim Shia pilgrim tours to Syria

Iran resumed religious pilgrim trips to Syria on Sunday, enabling its nationals to visit Muslim Shia shrines in Damascus, according to state-run Fars news agency.

Two weekly flights from Tehran International Airport to Damascus resumed, allowing Iranians to visit the shrines of Sayyida Zainab and Sayyida Ruqayya - the head of Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation Ali-Reza Rashidian said.

"The Hajj and Pilgramage Organisation has allocated two weekly flights to Damascus from Tehran International Airport to visit the shrines of Sayyida Zainab and Sayyida Ruqayya," Rashidian told Fars news agency.

The first batch of 25 tourists headed from Shia-majority Iran to Syria's historic capital on Sunday as part of an "implementation of agreements previously concluded" with the Syrian regime, according to the agency.

Iran has backed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in the country's decade-long conflict where over 500,000 civilians were killed, mostly civilians from regime attacks. 

Iran and Syria agreed to resume religious pilgrim tours last November when it was agreed that Tehran would send 100,000 Iranian tourists to the war-torn country in the first phase of the deal.

At the time, Syrian Minister of Tourism Muhammad Rami Martini expressed his desire to "conduct the trips quickly" as his ministry encourages "Syrian tourism offices to receive Iranian tourists".

The Syrian regime said it would ensure the safety of Iranian visitors in the capital, following bloody attacks on Shia shrines in Damascus earlier in the conflict.

Pilgrimages partially resumed in 2019 but were put to a stop after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tehran and Damascus removed travel visas for its citizens to facilitate tourism in 2009, but the outbreak of the Syrian war put an end to the trips.