Kata'ib al-Imam Ali

Kata’ib al-Imam Ali (KIA) is an Iraqi Shiite paramilitary organization that is a member of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization comprised of primarily Shiite militias that was established to fight with the Iraqi Army against the Islamic State (IS). KIA was founded in July 2014 by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a former commander of the Badr Organizations and of Kata’ib Hezbollah and the current commander of the PMF. However, KIA is currently led by Shabal al-Saidi, who was a former top commander in the Mahdi Army under Muqtada al-Sadr in the early 2000s. The group has also been popularly associated with Abu Azrael, a battle commander famed for wielding a battle axe, sword and machine gun and undertaking dangerous but somewhat comical stunts in the fight against IS. KIA receives significant aid from the Iranian government and works closely with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iraq. It also cooperates closely with the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Army as well as the other Shiite organizations in the PMF. KIA is also reported to be training a Christian sub-battalion called Kata’ib Rouh Allah Issa Ibn Miriam (The Brigade of the Spirit of God Jesus Son of Mary). The group is also actively fighting in the Syrian Civil War alongside the forces aligned with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In July 2016, KIA released a statement saying that the bulk of its fighters in Syria would be moving from Aleppo to Palmyra.