The number of proscribed outfits has swelled to 79 after the first addition in the list of terrorist organisations in four years, Dawn reported on April 24. The latest addition to the list, the Zainebiyoun Brigade (ZB), is a militant group which was designated by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation in 2019. The decision to ban Zainebiyoun Brigade was notified after escalation of tensions with Iran in January and implemented on March 29. Seen by observers as a move by Islamabad to appease Washington, while others speculate this was done to win favour with Riyadh, whose foreign minister visited Pakistan recently. Formed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after a civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, the Zainebiyoun Brigade, also known as Liwa Zainebiyoun, is charged with mobilising Pakistani Shias to fight forces opposed to Syrian ruler Bashar Al Assad, a close ally of Tehran and Moscow. The Brigade has acknowledged ties with the Quds Force since around the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, and its formation was announced in 2014 during the conflict in Syria. It recently pledged its readiness to follow orders from the IRGC.