Database: Identifiers of Designated Islamic Terrorist Organizations

Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq

Designated as a "Special Group" by the United States Military

Base of operations: Syria, Iraq

Background: Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi
Background: Guardian

An Iranian proxy militia that originated in 2004 as a split from Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq's name translates as "League of People of Righteousness" and the group is led by Qais al-Khazali. Since Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki's re-election as prime minister in 2010 and the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the group's power has greatly grown, with close ties developed with Maliki's office as Maliki saw Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq as useful to play off against the Sadrists. Thus, the group has acquired a virtually untouchable status in areas like Basra (where it has supplanted the influence of the Mahdi Army) and can be readily seen using elite military equipment and vehicles without objection, even as concerns have been raised about Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq carrying out sectarian cleansing in the ethnically mixed province of Diyala since at least 2013. As an Iranian proxy, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq has had a contingent fighting in Syria, Liwa Kafeel Zainab. It has also been participating in the fighting in Anbar and elsewhere in Iraq since the revival of the wider Sunni insurgency at the start of 2014. The group also has political and media wings. The former is known as the Sadiqun Bloc, which won a single seat in Iraq's 2014 parliamentary elections.

Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq Armpatch	Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq Emblem	Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq fighter in SWAT gear	Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq: Al-Sadiqun Bloc
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq: Liwa Kafeel Zainab	Asaib Ahl al-Haq: Al-Ahad TV	Iranian Proxy Militias in Iraq and Lebanon	Iraq: Unity of Shi'a Militias
Shi'a Jihadi Slogan: Ali Madad	Shi'a Jihadi Slogan: Labbayk Ya Zainab	Shi'a Jihadi Slogan: Ya Hussein	Shi'a Symbol: Ayatollah Muhammad Muhammad Sadeq al-Sadr
Shi'a Symbol: Imam Ali Portrait