Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH; Arabic: عصائب أهل الحق Aṣaʾib ʾAhl al-Haqq, "League of the Righteous"), also known as the Khazali Network (Arabic: شبكة الخزعلي), is a radical Iraqi Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary organization active in the Iraqi insurgency and Syrian Civil War.[48][49] During the Iraq War it was known as Iraq's largest "Special Group" (the American term for Iranian-backed Shia paramilitaries in Iraq), 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.[50]
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq عصائب أهل الحق
July 2006
Qais al-Khazali
Akram al-Kaabi (2007–2010)
July 2006 – present
State allies
Non-state allies
Islamic Dawa Party (Nouri al-Maliki)[19][20]
Kata'ib Hezbollah[21]- Ashab al-Kahf (alleged, denied)
Promised Day Brigades
Liwa Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas
Hezbollah[4]
Liwa al-Quds[22]- Sheibani Network
Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba[23]
Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada[24]- Liwa Ali al-Akbar[25]
LAAG[26]
Al-Mukhtar Brigades (alleged)- Al-Ashtar Brigades (alleged)[27]
- Faylaq al Waad al Sadiq[28]
State opponents
Non-state opponents
- Karbala provincial headquarters raid
- Operation Together Forward
- Siege of Sadr City
- Siege of U.K. bases in Basra
- Iraq spring fighting of 2008
- Battle of Basra
Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)[34]
- Siege of Amirli[35][36]
- Operation Ashura[37][38]
- Battle of Baiji (2014)[39]
- Liberation of Jurf Al Sakhar[40]
- Second Battle of Tikrit[41]
- Siege of Fallujah
- Hawija offensive (2017)[42]
- Battle of Mosul (2016)
- Battle of Aleppo
- 3rd Rif Dimashq offensive
- Damascus offensive
- 4th Rif Dimashq offensive
- 5th Rif Dimashq offensive
- Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)[43]
- 2017 Abu Kamal offensive
AAH is funded, trained, equipped and guided by IRGC's Quds Force and Hezbollah.[51][52] Members of AAH, as part of PMF, receive Iraqi government salaries after the PMF units were officially integrated into Iraqi security forces in 2018.
AAH has claimed responsibility for over 6,000 attacks on U.S.-led Coalition forces between 2006 and 2011, seeking to drive U.S. forces out of Iraq.[53][54] The militia's main tactic was to plant IEDs along the roads used by U.S. forces. These lethal roadside bombs killed and wounded hundreds of Coalition troops. Other tactics include sniper attacks, kidnappings, rocket and RPG attacks. Since 2011, AAH has assassinated Iraqi political opponents, killed civilian protesters, and continued attacks on U.S. diplomatic and military presence.[55] In 2017, AAH created a party with the same name.[56]
On 3 January 2020, the U.S. Department of State announced its intent to designate AAH a terrorist organization along with two of its leaders,[57] Qais al-Khazali and his brother Laith al-Khazali, who were designated Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).[58]
Syrian Civil War[edit]
AAH's Syrian branch is called the Haidar al-Karar Brigades, and led by Akram al-Kaabi, AAH's military leader stationed in Aleppo.[73] al-Kaabi is also the founder and leader of the militant group Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba.
The group initially fought under the banner of al-Abbas Brigade (a mixed Syrian, Iraqi and Lebanese Shia organization), but split in 2014 following a dispute with al-Abbas's native Syrian fighters.[73][74] Like other Iraqi Shia paramilitaries in Syria, they fight in defense of the Sayyidah Zainab shrine.[52]
Strength[edit]
AAH's strength was estimated at about 3,000 fighters in March 2007.[76] In mid-2008, Multinational Forces-Iraq declined to provide an estimate on the size of AAH, but noted that “their numbers have significantly dwindled because hundreds have been captured, killed, ran away or simply gave up their criminal lifestyles.”[77] In July 2011, however, officials estimated there were less than 1,000 AAH militiamen left in Iraq.[78] The group is alleged to receive some $5 million worth of cash and weapons every month from Iran.[78] In January 2012, following the American withdrawal from Iraq in December 2011, Qais al-Khazali declared the United States was defeated and that now the group was prepared to disarm and join the political process.[79]
Since the beginning of the Iraqi war against ISIL, AAH has grown to around 10,000 members[16][17] and been described as one of if not the most powerful members of the Popular Mobilization Forces.[34][36][80] It has recruited hundreds of Sunni fighters to fight against ISIS.[81]
Funding[edit]
The group receives funding, training, weapons and guidance from Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force as well as Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah. By March 2007, Iran was providing the network between $750,000 and $3 million in arms and financial support each month. Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, a former Badr Brigades member who ran an important smuggling network known as the Sheibani Network played a key role in supplying the group. The group was also supplied by a smuggling network headed by Ahmad Sajad al-Gharawi,[82] a former Mahdi Army commander, mostly active in Maysan Governorate.[83]
The
– Responsible for East-Baghdad (mainly the Shi'a Thawra, Nissan and Karrada districts but with some minor activity in the mixed Rusafa district and the mainly Sunni Adhamiyah district)
