Kata'ib al-Imam Ali ( ar, كتائب الإمام علي, ''Kataʾib al-ʾImām ʿAlīy''), also known as the Imam Ali Battalions, are the armed wing of the Islamic Movement of Iraq (Harakat al-Iraq al-Islamiyah) and serve as part of the umbrella organization "

Popular Mobilization Forces The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) ( ar, الحشد الشعبي ''al-Ḥashd ash-Shaʿbī''), also known as the People's Mobilization Committee (PMC) and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization ...

", Kata'ib al-Imam Ali is prominently involved in the Iraqi Civil War, fighting against the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

(ISIL).

History

Kata'ib al-Imam Ali came into existence in June 2014 as the armed wing of the Harakat al-Iraq al-Islamiyah (Movement of the Islamic Iraq) party. While its emergence was linked to the large-scale Shia mobilization after the escalation of Iraq's Sunni Arab

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irr ...

into a full-out civil war, Kata'ib al-Imam Ali is closely connected to older Iraqi Shia Islamist organizations, parties and militias, as well as to the Iranian

Quds Force The Quds Force ( fa, نیروی قدس, niru-ye qods, Jerusalem Force) is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War ...

. The group's secretary general Shibl al-Zaydi is affiliated with the

Sadrist Movement The Sadrist Movement ( ar, التيار الصدري ') is an Iraqi Islamic national movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr. The movement draws wide support from across Iraqi society and especially from the Shi'a poor in the country. The most important ...

, and was at one point member of the

anti-American Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centr ...

Mahdi Army. Kata'ib al-Imam Ali also appears to enjoy the favour of

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis Jamal Ja'far Muhammad Ali Al Ibrahim ( ar, جمال جعفر محمد علي آل إبراهيم ', 16 Nov 1954 – 2 January 2020), known by the kunya Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis ( ar, أبو مهدي المهندس, lit=Father of Mahdi, the Engine ...

, leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces, who has at times even personally led the group into battle. Thanks to these links, Kata'ib al-Imam Ali is well-equipped and has been able to recruit veteran militants, allowing a "meteoric growth". Notably, Kata'ib al-Imam Ali has also attempted to rally Syriac Christian Assyrians to its cause since its formation, based on a purported affinity between Shia Islam and Christians and the supposed betrayal of the Iraqi Christians by

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...

in course of the

Fall of Mosul The Fall of Mosul occurred between 410 June 2014, when Islamic State insurgents, initially led by Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi, captured Mosul from the Iraqi Army, led by Lieutenant General Mahdi Al-Gharrawi. On 4 June, the insurgents began their ...

. In line with these attempts, the group has formed its own, though minor, Christian unit, the "Spirit of God Jesus Son of Mary Battalions". In late 2014, one of the group's commanders,

Abu Azrael Ayoub Falih Hasan Al-Raie ( ar, أيوب فالح حسن لراعي), born 1978, known by his nom de guerre Abu Azrael, also known as the Angel of Death, is an Iraqi Commander in the popular crowd of the Kataib al-Imam Ali, an Iraqi Shi'a militia ...

, gained prominence after appearing in the media armed with axes, swords and machine guns.The Archangel of Death' fighting Islamic State"
BBC News. 17 March 2015. In 2015, Kata'ib al-Imam Ali began to send its fighters to Syria, allegedly to protect the Sayyidah Zaynab Shrine, and participated in the

Second Battle of Tikrit The Second Battle of Tikrit was a battle in which Iraqi Security Forces recaptured the city of Tikrit (the provincial capital of the Saladin Governorate) from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Iraqi forces consisted of the Iraq ...

. In early 2016, its fighters were involved in the Syrian government offensive to reconquer

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...

and Tadmur from ISIL, and later that year, Kata'ib al-Imam Ali took part in the Battle of Mosul and the

Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016) The Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016), code named Operation Dawn of Victory by government forces, was a successful military offensive launched by the Syrian Armed Forces and allied groups against rebel-held districts in Aleppo. The off ...

References

External links

{{Militant Islamism Anti-ISIL factions in Iraq Anti-ISIL factions in Syria Popular Mobilization Forces Pro-government factions of the Syrian civil war Shia Islamist groups Islamism in Iraq Paramilitary organizations based in Iraq Military units and formations established in 2014 Anti-Americanism Military wings of political parties Jihadist groups in Iraq Jihadist groups in Syria Anti-Zionist organizations Anti-Zionism in Iraq Axis of Resistance

History

See also

References

External links