Popular Mobilization Forces
Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) (Arabic: قوات الحشد الشعبي, romanized: Quwwāt al-Ḥashd ash-Shaʿbī),[35] also known as the People's Mobilization Committee (PMC) and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU),[36] is an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization composed of approximately 67 different armed factions, with around 230,000 fighters that are mostly Shia Muslim groups, but also include Sunni Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi groups.[37][38][39][40] The Popular Mobilization Units as a group was formed in 2014 and have fought in nearly every major battle against ISIL.[41] Many of its main militias, in particular the Shias, trace their origins to the "Special Groups", Iranian-sponsored Shi'ite groups which previously fought an insurgency against the United States and the Coalition forces, as well as a sectarian conflict against Sunni Jihadist and Ba'athist insurgents.[37][42] It has been called the new Iraqi Republican Guard after it was fully reorganized in early 2018 by its then–Commander in Chief Haider al-Abadi, Prime Minister of Iraq from 2014 to 2018, who issued "regulations to adapt the situation of the Popular Mobilization fighters".[43]
Some of its component militias which are pro-Iran are considered terrorist groups by some states, while others have been accused of promoting sectarian violence.[44][45][46] Pro-Iran organizations in PMF include the Badr Organisation, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Hezbollah, Kata’ib al-Imam Ali, Saraya Khorasani, etc.[47] During the 2019–2021 Iraqi protests, the pro-Iran factions of PMF organisation were responsible for killing and wounding large numbers of protesters and activists.[48][49][50][51][52] Pro-Iran paramilitary factions in the PMF have been engaged in political and ideological conflicts with pro-Sistani and Sadrist PMF factions, and their increasing rivalry has erupted into violent clashes.[53][54] This schism had caused pro-Iran factions to leave the PMF[failed verification] and form the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.[55][56]