The popular crowd in Iraq .. a military and political force

Al-Jazeera Net - Baghdad

The Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq were formed in mid-June 2014, in the wake of the fall of the Nineveh Governorate (in the north of the country) by ISIS, as a reserve army for the National Army to counter the organization.

According to the Strategic Thought Center for Studies, the Iraqi government took the initiative to take a series of swift measures to confront the state of complete collapse in the ranks of the Iraqi forces in Mosul, the most important of which was to announce the highest state of alert.

The call to build a reserve army vanished just two days after its announcement, as the religious authority in Najaf issued a fatwa, "The Kafaii Jihad", which included an invitation to those who can take arms to volunteer to fight the "terrorists", while the Iraqi government used all its capabilities after the fatwa to establish the popular crowd.

Soon some "militias" merged into the crowd, the most prominent of which are: the Badr Organization headed by Hadi al-Amiri, the Asaib Ahl al-Haq factions led by Qais Khazali, and the Hezbollah (Iraqi) Brigades headed by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Hizb allah
The Iraqi Hizballah Brigades, which America mentioned that it recently targeted with five strikes, which resulted in the killing and wounding of dozens, is one of the armed Shiite factions, and was founded in 2003 after the American invasion of Iraq, and it has Iranian funding, armament and training, and when it was established, its declared goal was to drive the occupier out of Iraq and defend the sanctities .

And after that, the brigades bearing the names appeared: Major General Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas, the Karbala Brigades, the Carpets Brigades, and the Zayd Bin Ali Brigades, all of which were factions that declared their unification under the name of the Iraqi Hezbollah.

The Iraqi Hezbollah Hezbollah had a great role in combating the Islamic State and repelling its attacks on the capital, Baghdad, and participated in the process of liberating areas south of Baghdad and lifting the siege on the city of Amerli, and the operations to liberate Salah al-Din Governorate (north of Baghdad).

And the Iraqi Hezbollah is the most exposed to the American bombing in Iraq, because Washington considers it linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran, despite its integration into the crowd formations that are classified as an official force linked to the Iraqi armed forces.

Legal crowd
Immediately after the declaration of the fatwa’s “jihadi fatwa” fatwa, the Iraqi government began framing it in an official framework that gives it the institutional character, by announcing the establishment of the “Popular Mobilization Directorate” to adapt those who can carry arms from all Iraqi governorates, and then the popular crowd exercises its activities formally like any other institution The Iraqi state protected by law during the performance of combat duties.

The Popular Mobilization Authority Law was passed after the Iraqi parliament voted by a majority of votes in favor of the law on November 26, 2016. The crowd is now led by Faleh al-Fayyad and his deputy, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, two former members of the Dawa Party led by former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The crowd expanded through volunteers who responded to the fatwa of "Kafai jihad", who are predominantly Shiites, and later were joined by Sunni tribes from the areas controlled by the state in the provinces of Salahuddin, Nineveh and Anbar, as well as joined in its ranks by thousands of other components of Iraq until it reached its population According to some statistics, more than 130,000 fighters.

The Hashd forces are still deployed in the areas recovered from ISIS, while its main headquarters are in the capital, Baghdad, and many of its formations are deployed on the border between Iraq and Syria.

On the first of last July, the government issued a diwaniya order stipulating that all the Hashd forces operate as part of the armed forces, and it also stipulated that the Hashd factions give up all the names in which they worked in the battles against the Islamic State, and replace them with military ones and that their members carry the military ranks .

The government order also stipulated that the crowd factions cut off any political ties to the political parties or blocs.

The current reality says that the crowd factions participate mostly in the political process, and their leaders are deputies in Parliament, especially the Badr Organization and Asaib Ahl al-Haq. Likewise, the Al-Fateh coalition, led by al-Amiri and with a large representation in parliament, is considered to be the political representation of the PMF.

Crowd weapons
Factions of the popular crowd move on the battlefields using four-ton cars, with a tonnage payload, carrying single, dual or quadruple anti-personnel and wheels, and other two-tonne vehicles carrying medium-range artillery-like field guns used by Iraqi army units, in addition to light wheels Designed as platforms for missile launchers, and Iranian "Safir" cars.

The popular crowd used "ET4 missiles that Iraqi forces received from the US government", in addition to heavy parts such as the American-made tanks (M1 Ibrams), Russian tanks (T72), armored personnel carriers (such as: M113), and minesweepers That was received from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense as part of additional weapons to support the crowd’s movements.

Added to all this is the use of mortars and RPG-7 anti-tank launchers, Russian-made or of other origin, Russian-made Grad missiles, reconnaissance and imaging drones, and other war items.

Factions and formations
The Popular Mobilization consists of 68 factions, and its numbers are estimated at more than 130,000 fighters, in the forefront of these factions: the Badr Organization, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, and formations affiliated to the Supreme Islamic Council led by Hammam Hammoudi, and the Hezbollah Brigades led by the engineer.

According to the Links Center for Research and Strategic Studies, among these formations are: the Imam Muhammad al-Jawad Brigade from the Badr Organization, the Imam Ali Combat Division, the Third Brigade, the formation of a lion Emerli from the Badr Organization, the formation of the Karrar, the Imam Soldiers Brigade, the Expected Brigade, the Ashura Brigades, and the Ali Brigade The Greatest, the Nujaba Movement, the Tuwaf Brigade, the Brigades of the Master of the Martyrs, the forces of the martyr al-Sadr, the Saraya of Jihad, the Syria’s Ansar Allah, the loyal Ansar Allah, the Turkmen Force, the Abbas Division, the forces of the Nineveh Plain, the Forces of God, the Imam Ali Brigades, the Popular Defense Brigades, and the Babylonian Brigade , Salah al-Din Brigade, and the formation of Malik A. Ashtar, and a brigade of the martyrs of Kirkuk crowd, Saraya and supporters of the doctrine, and the Knights of Jabour, and the guards of Nineveh, and the forces of Abu al Fadl al Abbas, brigade, Zulfikar.

Funding sources
The PMF receives a monthly salary from the Iraqi government through the PMF at about $ 600, in addition to a food allowance of $ 100 a month, all funded by the Iraqi government.