WAbu al-Fadl al-Abbas Forces, officially named the Qaeda Quwwat Abu Fadl al-Abbas, is a Shiite militia operating in Iraq, formed following the June 2014 ISIL advances. The force is affiliated with Sheikh Aws al-Khafaji, who was previously aligned with Muqtada al-Sadr. The group claims an affinity with the similarly named Liwa Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas group fighting in Syrian Civil War on behalf of the Syrian government. QQAFA also appears to have deep links to Kataib al-Imam Ali.
WAnsar al-Islam or Ansar al-Islam fi Kurdistan, also referred to as AAI, is a Sunni Muslim insurgent group in Iraq and Syria. It was established in Iraqi Kurdistan by former al-Qaeda members in 2001 as a Salafist Islamist movement that imposed a strict application of Sharia in villages it controlled around Biyara to the northeast of Halabja, near the Iranian border. Its ideology follows a literal interpretation of the Koran and promotes a return to what it claims is the example of the first Muslims (Salaf). Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the group became an insurgent group which fought against the Kurdish government, American led forces and their Iraqi allies. The group continued to fight the Iraqi Government following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and sent members to Syria to fight the Government following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.
WAsa'ib Ahl al-Haq, also known as the Khazali Network, is an Iraqi Shi'a political party and paramilitary group active in the Iraqi insurgency and Syrian Civil War. During the Iraq War it was known as Iraq's largest "Special Group", and is now part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a group of Shi’ite militias that are close to Iran.
WThe Badr Organization, previously known as the Badr Brigades or Badr Corps, is an Iraqi Shia Islamist political party and military organization headed by Hadi Al-Amiri. The Badr Brigade was the Iran-officered military wing of the Iran-based Shia Islamic party, Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), formed in 1982. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq most of Badr's fighters have entered the new Iraqi army and police force. Politically, Badr Brigade and SCIRI were considered to be one party since 2003, but have now unofficially separated with the Badr Organization now 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.
WThe Guardians of Religion Organization is an armed insurgent group affiliated with Al-Qaeda and fighting in the Syrian Civil War. The head of the group, Abu Humam al-Shami, was formerly a member of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and previously the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's branch in Syria between 2013 and 2016. Abu Jilibib Tubasi and Abu Khadija al-Urduni, members of the Guardians of Religion's shura council, left Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in 2016 due to its reported disassociation from al-Qaeda. Tubasi, al-Shami, and Sami al-Oraydi were arrested by HTS in November 2017, in an attempt to stave off the formation of another al-Qaeda affiliated group in Syria. Also, in November 2017, Jaysh al-Badia and Jaysh al-Malahim were formed. The group also rejects infighting against other groups, but has had some tensions with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on a few occasions, most recently from 17 June to 26 June 2020.
WHarakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba is an Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitary group that is especially active in Syria. The group is considered an Iranian proxy. It openly receives training, arms, and military advice from Iran. It is part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a group of Shi’ite militias that are close to Iran.
WThe Islamic Dawa Party, also known as the Islamic Call Party, is a political party in Iraq. Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council are two of the main parties in the religious-Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which won a plurality of seats in both the provisional January 2005 Iraqi election and the longer-term December 2005 election. The party is led by Haider al-Abadi, who was the Prime Minister of Iraq from 8 September 2014 to October 2018. The party backed the Iranian Revolution and also Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the Iran–Iraq War and the group still receives financial support from Tehran despite ideological differences with the Islamic Republic.
WThe Islamic State of Iraq was a militant Salafist jihadist group that aimed to establish an Islamic state in Sunni, Arab-majority areas of Iraq during the Iraq War and later in Syria during the Syrian Civil War.
WJama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, which may be abbreviated as JTJ or Jama'at, was a militant Jihadist group. It was founded in Jordan in 1999 and was led by Jordanian national Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for the entirety of its existence. During the Iraqi insurgency (2003–11), the group became a decentralized network with foreign fighters and a considerable Iraqi membership.
WJaysh al-Mu'ammal, also known as Liwa al-Mu'ammal or as the Popular Mobilization Forces' 99th Brigade, is a Shia Islamist Iraqi private militia that is led by Sa'ad Sawar and has fought in the Syrian Civil War and Iraqi Civil War. Founded as splinter faction of the Sadrist Movement, Jaysh al-Mu'ammal is supported by Iran and former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
WKata'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 Iraqi Civil War, fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
WKata'ib Hezbollah or Hezbollah Brigades is an Iraqi Shia paramilitary group which is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces that is supported by Iran. It has been active in the Iraqi Civil War and the Syrian Civil War. During the Iraq War, the group fought against coalition occupation forces. The group was commanded by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis until he was killed by a US airstrike in Baghdad on 3 January 2020. After the death of Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, he was replaced by Abdul Aziz al-Muhammadawi, as the new leader of the Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU).
WThe Sayyid of Martyrs Battalions, or Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) is an 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".
WThe Brigade of Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas, also known as the al-Abbas Brigade, is a pro-government Twelver Shia Muslim militant group operating throughout Syria. It is named after the nickname of Al-Abbas ibn Ali, son of Imam Ali.
WThe Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC), was an umbrella organization of at least six Sunni Islamic insurgent groups taking part in the Iraqi insurgency against U.S. and coalition and Iraqi forces: Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn, Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah, Katbiyan Ansar Al-Tawhid wal Sunnah, Saraya al-Jihad Group, al-Ghuraba Brigades, and al-Ahwal Brigades.
WThe Mukhtar Army is a Shi'a Iraqi militia group formed in February 2013 by Wathiq al-Battat, a former senior official in the Hezbollah Brigades. Al-Battat pledged his loyalty to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Al-Battat was arrested briefly on 2 January 2014 but was released despite still being a fugitive. He was apparently "accidentally assassinated" at point-blank range on 20 December 2014 at a fake police checkpoint in eastern Iraq by an unknown party.
WThe Peace Companies, frequently mistranslated as Peace Brigades in US media, are an Iraqi armed group linked to Iraq's Shia community. They are a 2014 revival of the Mahdi Army that was created by the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008.
WThe Promised Day Brigade, originally called the Muqawimun was a Shi'a organization and was an insurgent group operating in Iraq during the war. In 2010, it was one of the largest and most powerful of what the US military call "Special Groups" in Iraq. The group was created as successor to Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, which was Iraq's largest Shi'a militia until its disbanding in 2008, he also called on other Special Groups to join the brigade. Sadr had earlier already talked about the creation of a smaller guerrilla unit which would continue the Mahdi Army's armed activities but for the first time gave the organisation a name in November 2008 when he declared the creation of the Promised Day Brigade. Its activities have particularly increased since May 2009. The group's name is in reference to an alternate term for the Islamic Day of Judgment. The group is alleged to receive Iranian support. A crackdown against the group, in the end 2009, led to the arrest of 18 of its members including several commanders. On November 29, 2009, the group's Basra leader was arrested in al-Amarah.
WTanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn or TQJBR, also referred to as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, AQI, or Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, was an Iraqi Sunni Islamic Jihadist organization affiliated with al-Qaeda, for part of the first two decades of the 21st century.
WThe White Flags are an active insurgent group in northern Iraq opposed to the Iraqi government, having taken part in the Iraqi Civil War's last phase and the ongoing Iraqi insurgency (2017–present).