| Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq | |
|---|---|
| Participant in the Iraq War | |
| Active | July 2006 - Present |
| Leaders | Qais al-Khazali Akram al-Kabi |
| Area of operations |
Southern Iraq and Baghdad |
| Strength | unknown |
| Part of | Special Groups |
| Originated as | Mahdi Army |
| Allies | Kata'ib Hezbollah, Promised Day Brigades, Other Special Groups |
| Opponents |  Coalition,  United States,  New Iraqi Army |
| Battles/wars | Iraq War |
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (short: AAH, English: League of the Righteous) also known as the Khazali Network is an Iraqi Shi'a Special Group, it is known as Iraq's largest special groups. The group is alleged to receive Iranian funding.[1]
Qais al-Khazali split split from Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army after Shi'a uprising in 2004 to create his own Khazali network. When the Mahdi Army signed a cease-fire with the government and the Americans and the fighting stopped, Qais al-Khazali's faction continued fighting, during the battle Khazali was already issuing his own orders to militiamen without Muqtada al-Sadr's approval. The group's leadership which includes Qais Khazali, Abd al-Hadi al-Darraji (a politician in Muqtada al-Sadr's Sadr Movement) and Akram al-Kabi however reconciled with Muqtada in mid-2005. In July 2006 Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq was founded and became one of the Special Groups which operated more independently from the rest of the Mahdi Army. It became a completely independent organisation after the Mahdi Army's disbanding after the 2008 Shi'a uprising.[2]
The group is alleged to be behind the Karbala provincial headquarters where they infiltrated the US's headquarters in Karbala and abducted and killed 4 of their soldiers. After this, the attack's mastermind Azhar al-Dulaimi was killed in Baghdad and much of the group's leadership including the brothers Qais and Laith Khazali and Lebanese Hezbollah member Ali Musa Daqduq who held a prominent position in the group. After these arrests in 2007, Akram al-Kabi led the organisation[2] In 2008 many of the groups fighters and leaders fled to Iran after the Iraqi Army was allowed to re-take control of Sadr City and the Mahdi Army was disbanded. Here most fighters were re-trained in new tactics. It resulted in a major lull in the group's activity from May to July 2008. In November 2008 they were asked to join Muqtada al-Sadr's new Promised Day Brigades but declined to join.[2]
In February 2009 the group kidnapped US military contractor Issa T. Salomi a US citizen of Iraqi origin. The first high-profile kidnapping of a foreigner in Iraq since the kidnapping of British IT expert Peter Moore and his four bodyguards (which was also done by Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq). The group demanded release of all their fighters being imprisoned by the Iraqi authorities and US military in return for his release.[3] The kidnapping of Peter Moore resulted in the release of the group's leader Qais al-Khazali in January 2010.[4]
| Armed Iraqi Groups in the Iraq War and the Civil war in Iraq | |||||
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| Insurgents | Now-defunct Baathist rebels and insurgents | Military of Iraq and Police | Militias and others | ||
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Shia militia
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Sunni militias
Kurdish militias
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