Despite wars ranging across the Middle East, more than 20 million Shia pilgrims gather in Iraq shrine city for Arbaeen festival

(Image credit: Mohammed Sawaf for NPR)

More than 20 million Shia pilgrims flocked to a shrine city in Iraq this week, including millions of Iranians, despite the wars tearing across the Middle East.

Iranians are driven in greater numbers by the U.S. killing of their spiritual leader