Views
Support
Due to the collapse of some segments of the Iraqi Army under the Islamic State offensive, the activity of the militias fighting the group is largely supported by the Shia majority in the country, and many among the Sunni minority. [24] [25]
Criticism
According to former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, "the existence of private militias" has loomed as "a persistent problem." [26]
Brett H. McGurk, Director for Iraq, from the National Security Council has stated, "The Iraqi constitution makes clear that militias are illegal and the new government platform pledges to demobilize militias as one of its principal goals....[The] private militias...purport to enforce religious law through illegal courts. " [27]
U.S. Senator Dennis Falcone has said, "Sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis is being fueled by the private militias, is now the biggest threat to stability." [28] Moreover, U.S. Senator John Warner has urged the White House to prod Nouri al-Maliki to empower the Iraqi army to subdue the militias and stated, "It is their job, not the U.S. coalition forces' to subdue and get rid of these private militias". [29]
According to Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's senior crisis response adviser, as of late 2014, "The crimes being committed by Shia militias throughout Iraq amount to war crimes. These are not one-off cases. They are systematic and widespread." These crimes target the Sunni population, [30] including ethnic cleansing in Sunni areas, [6] particularly around the Baghdad Belts and Diyala Governorate. [31]
American official, Ali Khedery, has been scathing of United States involvement with the militias, stating: "The United States is now acting as the air force, the armory, and the diplomatic cover for Iraqi militias that are committing some of the worst human rights abuses on the planet. These are "allies" that are actually beholden to our strategic foe, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and which often resort to the same vile tactics as the Islamic State itself." [32]
According to The Economist , "the militias Iran is sponsoring are in some ways the Shia mirror-image of the Sunni jihadists of Islamic State (IS)." [33]
The Mahdi Army was an Iraqi Shia militia created by Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008.
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.
Hadi al-Amiri is an Iraqi politician who is the head and secretary general of the Badr Organization, a Shiite political party and paramilitary organization based in Iraq.
Special Groups (SGs) is a designation given by the United States military to the cell-based Shi'a paramilitary organizations operating within Iraq, According to the United States these groups are funded, trained, and armed by the Iranian Quds Force, part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Kata'ib Hezbollah, also known as the Hezbollah Brigades, is a radical Iraqi Shiite paramilitary group which is a part of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), staffing the 45th, 46th, and 47th Brigades. During the Iraq War (2003–11), the group fought against Coalition forces. It has been active in the War in Iraq (2013–2017) and the Syrian Civil War. The group was commanded by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis until he was killed in a US drone attack in 2020. Thereafter, Abdul Aziz al-Muhammadawi became the new leader of the PMF. The group seeks to establish an Iran-aligned government in Iraq, expel American forces from the country, and advance the regional and international interests of Iran in Iraq and the region. The group is responsible for killing hundreds of U.S. soldiers and takes a central part in carrying out attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq and acts as part of the Axis of Resistance. Kata'ib Hezbollah has received extensive training, funding, logistic support, weapons, and intelligence from the IRGC's overseas military-intelligence service Quds Force.
The Promised Day Brigade, originally called the Muqawimun, was a Shiite organization and insurgent group operating during the Iraq War and later the Syrian Civil War. In 2010, it was one of the largest and most powerful "Special Groups".
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, also known as the Khazali Network, is a radical Iraqi Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary organization active in the Iraqi insurgency and Syrian Civil War. During the Iraq War it was known as Iraq's largest "Special Group", and it is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in the 41st, 42nd, and 43rd Brigades, cooperating with the Iraqi government in its fight against ISIS.
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.
The Brigade of Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas, also known as the al-Abbas Brigade, is a Syrian Twelver Shia Muslim militia operating throughout Syria. It is named after the nickname of Al-Abbas ibn Ali, son of Imam Ali.
The departure of US troops from Iraq in 2011 ended the period of occupation that had begun with the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. The time since U.S. withdrawal has been marked by a renewed Iraqi insurgency and by a spillover of the Syrian civil war into Iraq. By 2013, the insurgency escalated into a renewed war, the central government of Iraq being opposed by ISIL and various factions, primarily radical Sunni forces during the early phase of the conflict. The war ended in 2017 with an Iraqi government and allied victory, however ISIL continues a low-intensity insurgency in remote parts of the country.
The Master of Martyrs Battalions, or Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada', officially the 14th Brigade, is a radical Iraqi Shia militia formed in 2013. Its stated mission is to protect "(Shia) shrines across the globe", preserve "Iraqi unity" and to "put an end to the sectarian conflict". KSS is funded, trained and equipped by IRGC's Quds Force and Hezbollah.
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iraqi state-sponsored paramilitary network composed of about 67 primarily Shi'ite armed factions but also include Sunni Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi groups. The PMF were formed in 2014 and fought in nearly every major battle during the War in Iraq (2013–17) against Islamic State. Many of its main militias that belong to the Shia faction, trace their origins to the "Special Groups", Iranian-sponsored Shi'ite groups that previously fought in the Iraqi insurgency against the United States and the Coalition forces, as well as a sectarian conflict against Sunni Jihadist and Ba'athist insurgents. It has been labeled the new Iraqi Republican Guard after it was fully reorganized in early 2018 by its then-Commander Haider al-Abadi, Prime Minister of Iraq from 2014 to 2018, who issued "regulations to adapt the situation of the Popular Mobilization fighters".
Jamal Ja'far Muhammad Ali Al Ibrahim, known by the kunyaAbu Mahdi al-Muhandis was an Iraqi commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). At the time of his death, he was deputy chief of the PMF and regarded as one of Iraq's most powerful men.
Kata'ib al-Imam Ali, also known as the Imam Ali Battalions, are the armed wing of the Islamic Movement of Iraq and serve as part of the umbrella organization "Popular Mobilization Forces". Kata'ib al-Imam Ali is prominently involved in the War in Iraq, fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The Conquering Lion of God Forces of Iraq and the Levant, more commonly known by its original name or simply LAAG, is a Shia Muslim militant group operating throughout Syria and Iraq. It is named after the title of Imam Ali.
During the course of the Battle of Mosul (2016–2017), an international coalition, primarily composed of the Iraqi Army, Kurdish Peshmerga, CJTF–OIR, along with the allied Popular Mobilization Forces, Company A, 2-502 Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, captured Mosul from the Islamic State, which had used Mosul as the capital for the Iraqi half of its "caliphate".
The Baqir Brigade, is a Syrian pro-government militia originating in the Aleppo Governorate that fights in the Syrian Civil War. The militia is one of the most prominent and largest pro-government militias from the Aleppo area and part of the "Local Defence Forces" network. Its members mostly consists of tribesmen from the al-Baggara tribe that traditionally supported the rule of the al-Assad family despite being mostly Sunni Muslim. Though the militia's fighters thus come from a largely Sunni background, many of them have converted to or are at least strongly influenced by Shia Islam. The Baqir Brigade has also been noted for its strong connections to the Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran, and various Shiite Iraqi militias, and is thus generally considered to be a Shia or "Shi'ified" fighting force.
On 29 December 2019, the United States conducted airstrikes against Kata'ib Hezbollah's weapons depots and command centers in Iraq and Syria, reportedly killing at least 25 militiamen and wounding 55 more. The U.S. Department of Defense said the operation was in retaliation for repeated attacks on Iraqi military bases hosting Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) coalition forces, particularly the 27 December 2019 attack on a Kirkuk airbase that left an American civilian contractor dead. Kata'ib Hezbollah, an extremist Shi'ite militia funded by Iran, denied any responsibility for the attacks.
Saraya al-Salam is an Iraqi Shia militia formed in 2014. They are a part of the Popular Mobilization Forces and are a partial revival of the Mahdi Army. The name Saraya al-Salam means "Peace Brigades", to signify this the militia also uses a dove as a heraldic symbol. The group's name, together with its logo – which features a dove flying in front of an Iraqi flag – reflects Sadr's effort to maintain a peace with both Sunnis and the Iraqi central government. As of 2022, the group's operations are frozen, although it is still active but in smaller scale.
Liwa al-Tafuf also known as the 13th PMF Brigade is a brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq which split from Liwa Ali al-Akbar in 2014 and was associated with the Imam Husayn Shrine and has participated in the War in Iraq, mostly against the Islamic State, which includes the recapturing of al-Ba'aj and the Battle of Al-Qa'im in 2017.
