Mahdi Army
The Mahdi Army (Arabic: جيش المهدي) was an Iraqi Shia militia created by Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008.[8]
For the Mahdist army in 19th-century Sudan, see Muhammad Ahmad.
Mahdi Army
جيش المهدي
The Mahdi Army rose to international prominence on April 4, 2004, when it spearheaded the first major armed confrontation against the US forces in Iraq from the Shia community. This concerned an uprising that followed the ban of al-Sadr's newspaper and his subsequent attempted arrest, lasting until a truce on June 6. The truce was followed by moves to disband the group and transform al-Sadr's movement into a political party to take part in the 2005 elections; Muqtada al-Sadr ordered fighters of the Mahdi army to cease fire unless attacked first. The truce broke down in August 2004 after provocative actions by the Mahdi Army, with new hostilities erupting. The group was disbanded in 2008, following a crackdown by Iraqi security forces.
At its height, the Mahdi Army's popularity was strong enough to influence local government, the police, and cooperation with Sunni Iraqis and their supporters. The group was popular among Iraqi police forces. The National Independent Cadres and Elites party that ran in the 2005 Iraqi election was closely linked with the army. The Mahdi Army was accused of operating death squads.[9][10]
The group was armed with various light weapons, including improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Many of the IEDs used during attacks on Iraqi security forces and Coalition forces used infrared sensors as triggers, a technique that was used widely by the IRA in Northern Ireland in the early-to-mid-1990s.[11]
The group was semi-revived in 2014 as Saraya al-Salam in order to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and was still active as of 2016. It participated in the recapture of Jurf Al Nasr and the Second Battle of Tikrit.
Nomenclature[edit]
In the Twelver school of Shia Islam, the Mahdī is believed to have been a historical figure identified with the Twelfth Imam, Hujjat Allah al-Mahdi, and is therefore called al-Imām al-Mahdī. It is believed that he is still present on earth in occultation, and will emerge again in the end times. Those Shias of this school believe that Imam Mahdi is the rightful ruler of the Islamic community (Ummah) at any given time, and he is therefore also called Imām al-Zamān, meaning "Imam of the Era".
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
Created by Muqtada al-Sadr and a small fraction of Shias, the Mahdi Army began as a group of roughly 500 seminary students connected with Muqtada al-Sadr in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, formerly known as Saddam City. The group moved in to fill the security vacuum in Sadr City and in a string of southern Iraqi cities following the fall of Baghdad to U.S-led coalition forces on April 9, 2003. The group was involved in dispensing aid to Iraqis and provided security in the Shi'ite slums from looters.
Gradually, the militia grew and al-Sadr formalized it in June 2003.[12] The Mahdi Army grew into a sizable force of up to 10,000 who even operated what amounted to a shadow government in some areas. Al-Sadr's preaching is critical of the American occupation, but he did not initially join the Sunni Islamist and Ba'athist guerrillas in their attacks on coalition forces. Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani played a significant role in the establishment of Mahdi Army as soon as the Iraq War broke out in 2003.[13]
Iran's influence[edit]
Although Muqtada Al-Sadr has historically had close ties to Iran, he has generally opposed Iranian clerical and political influence in Iraq. Unlike the Al-Hakim family, of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council and many leaders of the Dawa party who fled to Iran[47] following the Persian Gulf War and remained there in exile until the American invasion in 2003, Muqtada al-Sadr and his family remained in Iraq throughout Saddam's rule. The refusal to leave Iraq garnered the Sadr family much support during and after the collapse of Saddam's regime. Early 2006, al-Sadr pledged military support to Iran and other neighboring Islamic countries if they were to be attacked by a foreign nation.[48] Since then, however, Al-Sadr has opposed the Dawa Party, and in 2006 Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered a major offensive targeting the Mahdi Army in Basra.[49]
In late 2007 or 2008, Muqtada al-Sadr moved to Iran and spent several years studying Shia jurisprudence in Qom before returning to Najaf in 2011.[44][50]
Activities[edit]
As of August 2006, the Mahdi Army rarely challenged coalition troops on a wide scale. Neither the coalition nor the Iraqi government made any move to arrest al-Sadr. The Mahdi Army participated in battles against Sunni insurgents and operated its own justice system in the areas it controlled.[51][52] The Mahdi army operated death squads that frequently killed Sunni civilians particularly during the civil war phase of the Iraq war.[53]