Mu'awiya ibn Sa'id, from Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ali (AS), who said: Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) said: When two lances clash in Syria, it is a sign among the signs of God the Exalted. It was asked: Then what? He said: Then there will be a quake in Syria in which a hundred thousand will perish; God will make it a mercy for the believers and a torment upon the disbelievers. When that happens, look for the riders of grey horses and the yellow banners advancing from the West until they settle in Syria. When that happens, await the sinking into the earth of one of the villages of Syria, called Harasta. And when that happens, await the son of the liver-eating woman in the Dry Valley (Wadi al-Yabis). (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi, vol. 1, p. 461)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When, in Syria, two claimants to rule fall out with one another, that conflict is a sign among the signs of God. After that, Syria will fall into such insecurity from this discord that one hundred thousand people will perish in it, and God will make this event a mercy for the believers and a torment for the disbelievers. When this happens, look for the riders of grey mounts — powerful, swift horsemen — and the yellow banners that will come from the West and enter Syria. Then await the sinking into the earth of one of the villages of Syria, whose name is Harasta. And when matters reach that point, await the emergence of the son of the liver-eating woman (the Sufyani) from the dry region.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say: People will keep diminishing until God is no longer even mentioned. When that happens, the chief of religion will rise, and God will raise up a people from the far parts of the earth; they will come like the scattered cloud-wisps of autumn. By God, I know them, and I know their names and their tribes and the name of their commander [and where their mounts kneel]. They are a people whom God carries along as He wills — from one tribe a man, or two men — up to nine; and they will assemble from the horizons, three hundred and thirteen [men], the number of the people of Badr. And this is God's word: 'Wherever you may be, God will bring you all together; indeed God has power over all things' [Qur'an 2:148] — such that a man sitting with his knees wrapped in his cloak will not have loosened his wrap before God brings him there. (al-Ghayba of al-Tusi, vol. 1, p. 477)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say: The people of religion will steadily dwindle, to the point that the name of God is no longer spoken. When matters reach that state, the leader of religion will rise up, and God will raise a group from the far corners of the earth, and they will come swiftly, like the clouds of spring. By God, I know them; I know their names, their tribes, and their clans. God will gather them: from every tribe and clan one or two persons, up to nine, will come together. They will be 313, the number of the companions of Badr. God has said: 'Wherever you may be, God will bring you all together; indeed God has power over all things' [Qur'an 2:148]. Even if a man is sitting with his knees bound up in his cloak, before he has undone it God will speed him, too, to the Imam's uprising.