Mahdi army
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The Mahdi Army ( Arabic جيش المهدي Dschaisch al-Mahdi , DMG Ǧaiš al-Mahdī , also Jaish al-Mahdi - JAM ), known today as Peace Companies (سرايا السلام, DMG Sarāyā s-Salām ), is an Iraqi paramilitary force founded in June 2003 by the Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada as-Sadr .
history
The group became internationally known when on April 18, 2004 they spearheaded the first major armed confrontation between Shiites and US-led occupation forces . As a result, newspapers published by al-Sadr were banned and attempts were made to arrest him. After the armistice on June 6th, efforts were made to dissolve the group or to transform as-Sadr's movement into a political party, which should then take part in the 2005 elections . Muqtada as-Sadr instructed the Mahdi Army fighters to keep the ceasefire unless attacked first. The ceasefire ended in August 2004 after provocative acts by the Mahdi Army, which sparked new hostilities.
The National Independent Cadres and Elites Party , a Shiite party in Iraq, has close ties with al-Sadr's army.
After a wave of arrests by the Iraqi state security forces, the Mahdi army disbanded, but re-established itself in 2014 as a "peace company" to fight against the Islamic State in the battle for Tikrit as part of the popular mobilization . The Mahdi army is said to have close ties to the Al Salam 313 group, which first became conspicuous in 2017 .
Surname
The name Dschaisch al-Mahdi has an eschatological overtones: In the Shiite theology is Mahdi , the Messiah, who the Masih (Arabic, the Christ; Christ ) is to assist the Dajjal to destroy and a worldwide Islamic Caliphate to establish, in preparation for the Yaum al-Qiyama , the “day of resurrection”.
Web links
- Who are Iraq's Mehdi Army? - BBC article
- Al-Mahdi Army / Active Religious Seminary / Al-Sadr's Group - report on globalsecurity.org
Individual evidence
- ↑ Who is Al-Salam-313? by Esther Felden and Matthias von Hein ( Deutsche Welle ), May 22, 2019