Abdel-Karim Mahoud al-Mohammedawi was a member of the Interim Iraq Governing Council created following the United States's 2003 invasion of Iraq. A Shia Muslim, al-Mohommedawi led the resistance against Saddam Hussein's government in the southern marsh regions of Iraq, where he gained the title "Prince of the Marshes." He was imprisoned for six years under the Hussein regime and currently leads the Iraqi political group Hezbollah in Amarah. [1]
After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, he organised a militia in Maysan governorate which prevented looting. These militia later joined the Maysan police. [2] His brother was appointed governor of Maysan. [3] In 2004 he was criticised when six unemployed demonstrators were shot outside the governor's house.
Hezbollah (Iraq) joined the United Iraqi Alliance coalition in the Iraqi legislative election of January 2005. He was the Trade Minister in the Iraqi Transitional Government from May 2005 until May 2006. His deputy, Jawad al-Bolani, was the Interior Minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2010.
Hezbollah has clashed violently with the Islamic Virtue Party which controlled the Basra Province until 2009. [4]
The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq is a Shia Islamist political party in Iraq. It was established in Iran in 1982 by Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and changed its name to the current Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq in 2007. Its political support comes from Iraq's Shia Muslim community.
The occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) began on 20 March 2003, when the United States invaded with a military coalition to overthrow Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and continued until 18 December 2011, when the final batch of American troops left the country. While the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia were the largest contributors to the coalition, 29 other countries, such as Japan, were involved in the Iraq War in a lesser capacity. Additionally, several private military contractors took part in enforcing the occupation.
The Islamic Dawa Party, is an Iraqi Shia Islamist political movement that was formed in 1957 by seminarians in Najaf, Iraq, and later formed branches in Lebanon and Kuwait. The Party backed the Iranian Revolution and also Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the Iran–Iraq War. It also opposed the Iraq War. Iran played a crucial role in the development of the movement, especially its Lebanese branch which later became Hezbollah. In 2019, the Dawa Party was reportedly suffering from internal divisions and is in danger of losing its "political relevance". The Islamic Dawa Party is led by Nouri Al-Maliki.
Ayatollah Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was an Iraqi theologian, politician and the leader of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a party that has approximately 5% support in the Iraqi Council of Representatives. He also served as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq
Ayad Allawi is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the president of the Governing Council of Iraq in 2003.
Mowaffak Baker al-Rubaie is an Iraqi politician, and was Iraq National Security Advisor in the government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and in 2005–2006 Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari and 2006–2009 Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He was elected to the Iraqi Council of Representatives in December 2005 as a nominee of the United Iraqi Alliance and from 2014–2018 in the Iraqi Parliament.
Baqir Jabr Al-Zubeidi, also known as Bayan Jabr Solagh, is an Iraqi politician and former commander of the Badr Brigades who served as the Finance Minister of Iraq in the government of Nouri al-Maliki. He served as Minister of Interior, in charge of the police, in the Iraqi Transitional Government and was Minister of Housing and Reconstruction of the Iraqi Governing Council. He is also a senior member of the Shi'a United Iraqi Alliance as well as a leader in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
Maysan Governorate is a governorate in southeastern Iraq, bordering Iran. Its administrative centre is the city of Amarah, and it is composed of six districts. Before 1976, it was named Amara Province.
An Iraqi insurgency began shortly after the 2003 American invasion deposed longtime leader Saddam Hussein. It is considered to have lasted until the end of the Iraq War and U.S. withdrawal in 2011. It was followed by a renewed insurgency.
Amarah, also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between the Tigris and Euphrates.
The following lists events in the year 2003 in Iraq.
The Badr Organization, previously known as the Badr Brigades or Badr Corps, is an Iraqi Shia Islamist and Khomeinist political party and paramilitary organization headed by Hadi al-Amiri. The Badr Brigade, formed in 1982 and led by Iranian officers, served as the military arm of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a Shia Islamic party based in Iran. The Badr Brigade was created by Iranian intelligence and Shia cleric Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim with the aim of fighting the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein during the Iran–Iraq War. Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, most of the Badr Brigade fighters have entered the new Iraqi army and police force. Since 2003, the Badr Brigade and SCIRI were considered to be one party, but have recently unofficially separated with the Badr Organization now being an official Iraqi political party. Badr Brigade forces, and their Iranian commanders, have come to prominence in 2014 fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq. It is a part of the Popular Mobilization Forces.
Governorate council elections were held in Iraq on 30 January 2005, the same day as the elections for the transitional Iraqi National Assembly. The Governorate for each province has a 41-member council, except for Baghdad, whose council has 51 members.
Jawad al-Bulani served as the Interior Minister of Iraq within the Council of Ministers under Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from 8 June 2006 to 21 December 2010. Bulani is a Shi'a independent member of the United Iraqi Alliance.
The term militia in contemporary Iraq refers to armed groups that fight on behalf of or as part of the Iraqi government, the Mahdi Army and Badr Organization being two of the biggest. Many predate the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, but some have emerged since, such as the Facilities Protection Service. The 2003 invasion of Iraq by United States-led forces undermined the internal order in the country and brought about, among other things, the establishment of several pro-Iranian militias affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's Quds Force. The militias were set up with the purpose of driving the U.S. and Coalition forces out of Iraq and establishing Iranian involvement in the country. Prominent among the militias are Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba.
Governorate or provincial elections were held in Iraq on 31 January 2009, to replace the local councils in fourteen of the eighteen governorates of Iraq that were elected in the 2005 Iraqi governorate elections. 14,431 candidates, including 3,912 women, contested 440 seats. The candidates came from over 400 parties, 75% of which were newly formed.
The Sheibani Network was an Iraqi smuggling network and Shi'a Insurgent group led by Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, an ex-commander of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq's Badr Brigades. The Badr Brigades' militiamen and supply lines became known collectively as the “Sheibani Network,” which maintained links to Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) and to Kata'ib Hezbollah. The group was believed to be used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force to supply Iraqi Special Groups. The group is alleged to be responsible for numerous attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces. In 2009 the American Enterprise Institute believed that the network consisted of 280 members, divided in 17 units. US commanders estimated that weapons smuggled and used by the group were responsible for the death of 170 and injuries to 600 American soldiers by February 2007. Beginning in February 2013, reports from Iraqi newspapers Al Masalah and Kitabat claimed splits had emerged within Kata'ib Hezbollah, leading to the expulsion of al-Sheibani as its leader. In May 2013 al-Sheibani founded Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, but retired from his role as leader in 2014 when he became an advisor to Iraqi Interior Minister Mohammed Al-Ghabban.
Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani is an Iraqi politician who has been the Prime Minister of Iraq since 27 October 2022. Prior to his premiership, he held a number of ministerial positions; namely, Minister of Industry and Minerals, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, acting Minister of Trade, acting Minister of Finance, acting Minister of Migration and Displacement, acting Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Human Rights. He was Governor of Maysan in 2009-2010.
The Iraqi conflict is a series of violent events that began with the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq and deposition of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, the most recent of which is the ISIS conflict, in which the Iraqi government declared victory in 2017.
The National Wisdom Movement is a political coalition in Iraq that was formed to contest the 2018 general election. It is led by Ammar al-Hakim, who was previously the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI).