WThe 1920 Revolution Brigades is a Sunni militia group in Iraq, which includes former members of the disbanded Iraqi army. The group has used improvised explosive devices, and armed attacks against U.S. occupation forces. The group comprises the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement. The group is named in reference to the 1920 Iraqi revolt against the British.
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.
WThe Ahrar al-Najran movement is an alleged secessionist group in southern Saudi Arabia that arose in response to the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war that started in 2015. Information on the alleged group has come almost exclusively from Iranian and allied Syrian media, with no independent corroboration on them. Since the summer of 2015 there have been no further reports on the alleged group.
WThe Algerian National Movement was an organization founded to counteract the efforts of the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN). It was supported and, some say, partly financed by the French who used it to validate the claim that the FLN was not the sole representative of Algerian desires.
WAlwiya al-Furqan is an independent Islamist rebel group involved in the Syrian Civil War. It claimed to be the largest Islamist rebel faction that operated in the eastern Quneitra Governorate and Damascus. The group also held ties to Jordan which allowed fighters from the group to cross into the country to receive medical aid. During a sermon the group's leader stated that the Syrian opposition was building a Caliphate in Syria, that the rebels should emulate the Prophet Muhammad and his companions in doing so.
WAl-Ansar was a guerrilla force attached to the Iraqi Communist Party, active between 1979 and 1988.
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.
WAshab al-Kahf is an Iraqi Shia militant group that has been described as a proxy formation of Iran. The group first emerged in August 2019, but increased in activity following the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. It has attacked targets associated with the United States using rockets and improvised explosive devices. The group denies maintaining relationships with other Iranian-backed Shia paramilitary groups, such as Kata'ib Hezbollah and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq.
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 Free Iraqi Army was a Sunni rebel group formed in the western Sunni-majority provinces of Iraq from Iraqi supporters of the Free Syrian Army rebels fighting in the Syrian Civil War. The group aimed to overthrow the Shia-dominated government of Iraq, believing that they would gain support in this from Syria should the rebels be successful in overthrowing Bashar al-Assad. An Iraqi counterterror spokesman denied this, saying that the name is merely being used by al-Qaeda in Iraq to "attract the support of the Iraqi Sunnis by making use of the strife going on in Syria."
WThe Free Syrian Army (FSA) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces whose stated goal was to bring down the government of Bashar al-Assad. A formal organization at its founding, its structure gradually dissipated by late 2012, and the FSA identity has since been used by various opposition groups.
WLiwaa’ Fursan al-Joulan is a Free Syrian Army faction based in Jubata al-Khashab, a Quneitra town in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) zone. It consists of 300-1000 local fighters and led by Abu Suhaib al-Joulani. The group was alleged to receive Israeli assistance of cash, ammunition and other forms of aid. It is described as a "local" rebel group, "non-Islamist" and independent of the Southern Front.
WHamas of Iraq is a Sunni militia group based in Iraq, which split from the 1920 Revolution Brigade on 18 March 2007. The group claims to have released videos of its attack on US troops. The 1920 Revolution Brigade insists that Hamas in Iraq was involved in assisting US troops in their recent Diyala operations against Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has feared the US-armed 'concerned local citizens' are an armed Sunni opposition in the making, and has argued that such groups should be under the command of the Iraqi Army or police. On October 11, 2007, the militia group joined a political council that embraced armed insurgency against American forces.
WHarakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, officially the 12th Brigade 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 Hashid is a tribal confederation in Yemen. It is the second or third largest – after Bakil and, depending on sources, Madh'hij – yet generally recognized as the strongest and most influential. According to medieval Yemeni genealogies, Hashid and Bakil were the sons of Jashim bin Jubran bin Nawf Bin Tuba'a bin Zayd bin Amr bin Hamdan. Member tribes of the Hashid Confederation are found primarily in the mountains in the North and Northwest of the country.
WThe Arms of Egypt Movement, commonly known as the Hasm Movement, is an Islamist militant group operating in Egypt.
WThe Houthi movement, officially called Ansar Allah and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed movement that emerged from Sa'dah in northern Yemen in the 1990s. The movement was called Houthis because its founder is from the Houthi tribe. The Houthi movement is a predominately Zaidi Shia force. The Houthis have a complex relationship with Yemen's Sunni Muslims; the movement has both discriminated against Sunnis, but also recruited and allied with them. Under the leadership of Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, the group emerged as an opposition to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whom they charged with massive financial corruption and criticized for being backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States at the expense of the Yemeni people and Yemen's sovereignty. Resisting Saleh's order for his arrest, Hussein was killed in Sa'dah in 2004 along with a number of his guards by the Yemeni army, sparking the Houthi insurgency in Yemen. Since then, except for a short intervening period, the movement has been led by his brother Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.
WThe Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) is one of a number of underground Islamist militant organizations formed in Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by United States and coalition military forces, and the subsequent collapse of the Baathist government headed by Saddam Hussein.
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 Front for the Iraqi Resistance abbreviated JAMI, is an insurgent group in Iraq, fighting the U.S. led coalition as a part of the Iraqi Insurgency. The group announced itself in around May, 2004.
WThe Islamic Salvation Front was an Islamist political party in Algeria. The party had two major leaders representing its two bases of its support. Abbassi Madani appealed to pious small businessmen, and Ali Belhadj appealed to the angry, often unemployed youth of Algeria.
WThe Islamic Unification Movement – IUM, also named Islamic Unity Movement or Mouvement d'unification islamique (MUI) in French, but best known as Al-Tawhid, At-Tawhid, or Tawheed, is a Lebanese Sunni Muslim political party. It plays an active role in Lebanese internal politics since the Lebanese Civil War in the 1980s.
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 Hezbollah —or the Hezbollah Brigades—is an Iraqi Shia paramilitary group which is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces that are supported by Iran. During the Iraq War (2003–2011), the group fought against coalition occupation forces. It has been active in the War in Iraq (2013–2017) and the Syrian civil war (2011–present). The group was commanded by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis until he was killed by a US airstrike in Baghdad on 3 January 2020. Thereafter, 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 Lebanese Arab Army – LAA, also known as the Arab Army of Lebanon (AAL), Arab Lebanese Army or Armée du Liban Arabe (ALA) in French, was a predominantly Muslim splinter faction of the Lebanese Army that came to play a key role in the 1975–77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War.
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 Conquering Lion of God Forces of Iraq and the Levant, more commonly known by its original name or simply LAAG, is a Shia Muslim militant group operating throughout Syria and Iraq. It is named after the title of Imam Ali.
WThe Jaish al-Mujahideen is a Sunni militant group in Iraq. The group first emerged in late 2004. The Mujahideen Army is one of the founding members of the Jihad and Reform Front as well as a member of the Political Council for the Iraqi Resistance (PCIR).
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 Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, FRELISARIO or simply POLISARIO, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro, is a rebel national liberation movement by the Sahrawi people aiming to take control of the Western Sahara, which had been controlled by Spain, Mauritania, and as of 2021 was under the rule of Morocco. It is a consultative member of the Socialist International.
WThe Popular Defense Forces was a paramilitary force established under the Popular Defense Forces Act of 1989, it was also part of the Sudanese Armed Forces before its dissolution in 2019 following the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir.
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.
WRevolutionary Committee for Unity and Action was a militant group in Algeria fighting French colonial rule. CRUA regrouped former elements of OS and radical from MTLD. In total the founders of CRUA consisted of 33 persons.
WThe Southern Movement, sometimes known as the Southern Separatist Movement, or South Yemen Movement, and colloquially known as al-Hirak, is a political movement and paramilitary organization active in the south of Yemen since 2007, demanding secession from the Republic of Yemen and a return to the former independent state of South Yemen. At present, its most well-known political offshoot, the Southern Transitional Council led by Aidarus al-Zoubaidi, is the de facto leadership across many provinces of the south.
WThe Tihamah Resistance is an armed group formed by locals of Yemen's Tihamah region, aiming to resist Houthi control of the west coast region of Yemen. The group was formed in 2014, when Houthis seized Al Hudaydah and the rest of north Yemen. The group was active at in 2015 at the start of the war, participating in the Battle of Taiz on the side of the pro-Hadi coalition. In December 2017, the group took part in the Al Hudaydah governorate offensive, alongside UAE, Saudi, Hadi loyalists and Southern Movement fighters. The group is closely aligned with Tareq Saleh's National Resistance, and the Giants Brigades.