Kata’ib Sayyid al Shuhada (KSS) is an Iraqi militia that has fought in both Iraq and Syria and is closely connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Houthis.
December 27, 2023: The IRI releases a statement claiming responsibility for attacking an undisclosed target in the Israel-held Golan Heights. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly locate an explosive-laden drone that was launched from Syrian territory. Media reports speculate that the IRI’s failed attack could be in response to Israel’s targeted killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) officer Reza Mousavi in Damascus, Syria, on December 25.Joe Truzman and Bill Roggio, “Network of Iraqi militias claim responsibility for attack in Israel,” Long War Journal, December 28, 2023, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2023/12/network-of-iraqi-militias-claim-responsibility-for-attack-in-israel.php.
Kata’ib Sayyid al Shuhada (KSS) is an Iraqi militia that has fought in both Iraq and Syria and is closely connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Houthis.Caleb Weiss, “Iraqi Shia Militia ‘Willing to Send Fighters to Yemen,’” Long War Journal, July 9, 2018, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/07/iraqi-shia-militia-willing-to-send-fighters-to-yemen.php. Its leader is Abu Mustafa al Sheibani, a U.S.-designated terrorist who also assisted in forming the IRGC-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) and Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) militias.Caleb Weiss, “Iraqi Shia Militia ‘Willing to Send Fighters to Yemen,’” Long War Journal, July 9, 2018, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/07/iraqi-shia-militia-willing-to-send-fighters-to-yemen.php; Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada: Another Supplier of Iraqi Shia Fighters in Syria,” Jihadology, June 3, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/06/03/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-another-supplier-of-iraqi-shia-fighters-in-syria/.
The group was founded in 2013. Its first public announcements were three martyrdom notices for members killed fighting in southern Damascus alongside Syrian regime forces.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada: Another Supplier of Iraqi Shia Fighters in Syria,” Jihadology, June 3, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/06/03/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-another-supplier-of-iraqi-shia-fighters-in-syria/. In Syria, KSS operates within the fold of the mixed Syrian and Iraqi Liwa Abu Fadl al-Abbas, another Iranian-backed militia.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada: Another Supplier of Iraqi Shia Fighters in Syria,” Jihadology, June 3, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/06/03/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-another-supplier-of-iraqi-shia-fighters-in-syria/.
KSS follows the same Shiite jihadist ideology as fellow pro-Iranian Iraqi militias, framing its fight in Syria as a defense of Shiites and the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zaynab.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Emerges: Updates on the New Iraqi Shia Militia Supplying Fighters to Syria,” Jihadology, September 9, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/09/09/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-emerges-updates-on-the-new-iraqi-shia-militia-supplying-fighters-to-syria/; Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada: Another Supplier of Iraqi Shia Fighters in Syria,” Jihadology, June 3, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/06/03/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-another-supplier-of-iraqi-shia-fighters-in-syria/. In a 2013 interview, KSS’s information office stated that the group sent 500 militants to Syria.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Emerges: Updates on the New Iraqi Shia Militia Supplying Fighters to Syria,” Jihadology, September 9, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/09/09/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-emerges-updates-on-the-new-iraqi-shia-militia-supplying-fighters-to-syria/. Other media statements have affirmed the presence of KSS fighters in rural Damascus along the frontlines in eastern Ghouta.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Emerges: Updates on the New Iraqi Shia Militia Supplying Fighters to Syria," Jihadology, September 9, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/09/09/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-emerges-updates-on-the-new-iraqi-shia-militia-supplying-fighters-to-syria/. The Associated Press has reported that KSS fighters enter Syria via Iran.“Treasury Designates Individuals, Entity Fueling Iraqi Insurgency,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, January 9, 2008, https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp759.aspx; Phillip Smyth, “From Karbala to Sayyida Zaynab: Iraqi Fighters in Syria’s Shi’a Militias,” Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel 6, no. 8 (August 2013), https://ctc.usma.edu/from-karbala-to-sayyida-zaynab-iraqi-fighters-in-syrias-shia-militias/.
In 2015, KSS declared Saudi Arabia “a legitimate and permissible target” after that country executed a prominent Shiite cleric.Caleb Weiss, “Iraqi Shia Militia ‘Willing to Send Fighters to Yemen,’” Long War Journal, July 9, 2018, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/07/iraqi-shia-militia-willing-to-send-fighters-to-yemen.php. A 2018 KSS statement indicated the group was ready to send fighters to Yemen. KSS’s leader wrote, “I am a soldier standing at the signal of Sayyid Abdel Malek al Houthi [leader of the Houthis].”Caleb Weiss, “Iraqi Shia Militia ‘Willing to Send Fighters to Yemen,’” Long War Journal, July 9, 2018, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/07/iraqi-shia-militia-willing-to-send-fighters-to-yemen.php. Both of these actions indicate that KSS firmly sees itself as part of a global Shiite jihadist movement. In June 2020, the Republican Study Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives recommended designating KSS as a terrorist group. The recommendation also included other PMF factions Badr Organization, Kataib al-Imam Ali, Liwa Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas, and Jund al-Islam.“US Recommends Designating Badr Organization’s Leader, PMF Factions as Terrorists,” Asharq al-Awsat (London), June 12, 2020, https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2330586/us-recommends-designating-badr-organizations-leader-pmf-factions-terrorists; Joyce Karam, “Congress Republicans table largest sanctions plan against Iran,” National (Abu Dhabi), June 10, 2020, https://www.thenational.ae/world/the-americas/congress-republicans-table-largest-sanctions-plan-against-iran-1.1031877.
KSS follows the same global Shiite jihadist ideology as other IRGC-backed Shiite militant groups such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) and Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH).Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada: Another Supplier of Iraqi Shia Fighters in Syria,” Jihadology, June 3, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/06/03/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-another-supplier-of-iraqi-shia-fighters-in-syria/. Its militant activity in Syria was framed as a holy war to protect the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zaynab, and KSS has publicly pledged its loyalty to the Houthis, indicating its support for a global Shiite armed movement.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Emerges: Updates on the New Iraqi Shia Militia Supplying Fighters to Syria,” Jihadology, September 9, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/09/09/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-emerges-updates-on-the-new-iraqi-shia-militia-supplying-fighters-to-syria/; Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada: Another Supplier of Iraqi Shia Fighters in Syria,” Jihadology, June 3, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/06/03/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-another-supplier-of-iraqi-shia-fighters-in-syria/; Caleb Weiss, “Iraqi Shia Militia ‘Willing to Send Fighters to Yemen,’” Long War Journal, July 9, 2018, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/07/iraqi-shia-militia-willing-to-send-fighters-to-yemen.php.
Shiite-militia expert Phillip Smyth claimed in late 2013 that KSS appears to be closely tied to the Badr Organization, both ideologically and in terms of shared fighters in Syria.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Emerges: Updates on the New Iraqi Shia Militia Supplying Fighters to Syria,” Jihadology, September 9, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/09/09/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-emerges-updates-on-the-new-iraqi-shia-militia-supplying-fighters-to-syria/. KSS claims to have sent 500 militants to Syria in 2013, where it fought alongside the Syrian regime until at least 2015.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Emerges: Updates on the New Iraqi Shia Militia Supplying Fighters to Syria,” Jihadology, September 9, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/09/09/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-emerges-updates-on-the-new-iraqi-shia-militia-supplying-fighters-to-syria/; “Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada,” Mapping Militant Organizations, Stanford University, last updated December 28, 2016, https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/629.
The group corresponds to the 14th Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) brigade.Jessa Rose Dury-Agri, Omer Kassim, and Patrick Martin, Iraqi Security Forces and Popular Mobilization Forces: Orders of Battle, Institute for the Study of War (Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of War, 2017), 43, http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Iraq%20-%20ISF%20PMF%20Orders%20of%20Battle_0_0.pdf. KSS is connected to the Syrian Liwa al-Muntadhir and corresponds to the 7th PMF Brigade led by Daghir al-Mousawi.Jessa Rose Dury-Agri, Omer Kassim, and Patrick Martin, Iraqi Security Forces and Popular Mobilization Forces: Orders of Battle, Institute for the Study of War (Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of War, 2017), 43, http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Iraq%20-%20ISF%20PMF%20Orders%20of%20Battle_0_0.pdf. According to Smyth, KSS may be essentially a front for the military arm of the Sayyid al-Shuhada Movement, a jihadist political group allegedly backed by Iran and based in Basra, Iraq.Phillip Smyth, “From Karbala to Sayyida Zaynab: Iraqi Fighters in Syria’s Shi’a Militias,” Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel 6, no. 8 (August 2013), https://ctc.usma.edu/from-karbala-to-sayyida-zaynab-iraqi-fighters-in-syrias-shia-militias/; Reidar Visser, “Iraq,” in Militancy and Political Violence in Shiism: Trends and Patterns, ed. Assaf Moghadam (New York: Routledge, 2012), 107. Many of KSS’s reported casualties have been militants from the Basra region.Phillip Smyth, “From Karbala to Sayyida Zaynab: Iraqi Fighters in Syria’s Shi`a Militias,” Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel 6, no. 8 (August 2013), https://ctc.usma.edu/from-karbala-to-sayyida-zaynab-iraqi-fighters-in-syrias-shia-militias/.
Following the onset of the Hamas-Israel war in the Gaza Strip in early October 2023, an umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) claimed responsibility for an October 17 failed drone strike on a U.S. air base in Irbil, Iraq. The IRI is reportedly a coalition of all Iran-backed Shiite militias operating in Iraq, including KSS, Kataib Hezbollah (KH), Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HHN), as well as lesser-known militias such as Tashkil al-Waritheen. The IRI targets U.S. elements across Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the U.S.’s role in the Gaza crisis. The IRI carried out at least 20 more attacks by the end of October. By January 2024, the IRI carried out more than 100 attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq and Syria.Hamdi Malik and Michael Knights, “Profile: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy, October 21, 2023, https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/profile-islamic-resistance-iraq; “Iraq blames US-led coalition for ‘aggression’ after strike kills pro-Iran military commander,” France 24, January 4. 2024, https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240104-iraq-blames-us-led-coalition-for-aggression-after-strike-kills-pro-iran-military-commander.
KSS receives funding directly from the IRGC’s Quds Force—a special branch of the IRGC tasked with achieving sensitive missions beyond Iran’s borders—and, as a member of the PMF, from the Iraqi government.“Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada,” Mapping Militant Organizations, last updated December 28, 2016, https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/629.
Based on its reported losses, apparently KSS largely recruits from the southern Iraqi city of Basra, as well as from the Dhi Qar Province.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada: Another Supplier of Iraqi Shia Fighters in Syria,” Jihadology, June 3, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/06/03/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-another-supplier-of-iraqi-shia-fighters-in-syria/; Aymenn al-Tamimi, “Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada—Threats to Saudi Arabia: Translation and Analysis,” Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi’s Blog, October 17, 2014, http://www.aymennjawad.org/2014/10/kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-threats-to-saudi-arabia.. On September 15, 2016, KSS released a new call for recruits.Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, “Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada’ Launches New Recruiting Advertisement,” Jihad Intel, September 15, 2016, https://jihadintel.meforum.org/184/kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-launches-new-recruiting.
An August 2016 video, which has since been removed by YouTube, showed KSS fighters training in Syria with heavy machine guns.YouTube: “منوعات عراقيه Iraqi news,” كتائب سيد الشهداء ع في سوريا تدريب ع سلاح بي كيسي, August 6, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWcRAFxDGvc. The group also receives training directly from the IRGC. The U.S. Treasury Department accused IRGC commander Ahmed Foruzandeh of training the Basra-based Sayyid al-Shuhada movement. Shiite-militia expert Phillip Smyth believes KSS is a front for the Sayyid al-Shuhada organization’s military arm.Phillip Smyth, “From Karbala to Sayyida Zaynab: Iraqi Fighters in Syria’s Shi’a Militias,” Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel 6, no. 8 (August 2013), https://ctc.usma.edu/from-karbala-to-sayyida-zaynab-iraqi-fighters-in-syrias-shia-militias/.
KSS has also reportedly trained extensively in the use of drones. KSS Secretary General Abu Waala al Wa’eli expressed “enthusiasm for drone warfare” and stated in a 2019 interview, “We are working day and night to develop drones that can be put together in a living room.”Patrick Cockburn, “Just as Iraq Begins to Find Peace, It Once Again Becomes the Battleground for an American Proxy War,” Independent (London), September 27, 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iraq-us-iran-israel-proxy-war-middle-east-peace-abu-alaa-al-walai-shia-a9123436.html.
Secretary-general
Spokesman
Senior leader and commander
In late 2013, official Badr websites began promoting KSS propaganda, including pictures of KSS fighters in Syria and official KSS martyrdom announcements.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Emerges: Updates on the New Iraqi Shia Militia Supplying Fighters to Syria,” Jihadology, September 9, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/09/09/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-emerges-updates-on-the-new-iraqi-shia-militia-supplying-fighters-to-syria/. Such announcements include pictures of only one Iraqi cleric, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Hakim, one of the main figures behind the formation of the Badr Organization.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Emerges: Updates on the New Iraqi Shia Militia Supplying Fighters to Syria,” Jihadology, September 9, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/09/09/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-emerges-updates-on-the-new-iraqi-shia-militia-supplying-fighters-to-syria/. Official Badr military webpages have also posted about joint Badr-KSS operations in Syria.Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Emerges: Updates on the New Iraqi Shia Militia Supplying Fighters to Syria,” Jihadology, September 9, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/09/09/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-emerges-updates-on-the-new-iraqi-shia-militia-supplying-fighters-to-syria/.
KSS receives funding directly from the IRGC’s Quds Force.“Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada,” Mapping Militant Organizations, December 28, 2016, https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/629. In January 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned IRGC commander Ahmed Foruzandeh for various terrorist activities, including the training of Basra-based militant group Sayyid al-Shuhada. Shiite-militia expert Phillip Smyth believes KSS is a front for the military arm of Sayyid al-Shuhada, an Iranian-backed jihadist political movement.Phillip Smyth, “From Karbala to Sayyida Zaynab: Iraqi Fighters in Syria’s Shi’a Militias,” Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel 6, no. 8 (August 2013), https://ctc.usma.edu/from-karbala-to-sayyida-zaynab-iraqi-fighters-in-syrias-shia-militias/. KSS’s leader is a U.S.-designated terrorist who has worked with the IRGC since the late 1980s, including playing a central role in the formation of core IRGC proxy militias AAH and KH.Caleb Weiss, “Iraqi Shia Militia ‘Willing to Send Fighters to Yemen,’” Long War Journal, July 9, 2018, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/07/iraqi-shia-militia-willing-to-send-fighters-to-yemen.php; Phillip Smyth, “Hizballah Cavalcade: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada: Another Supplier of Iraqi Shia Fighters in Syria,” Jihadology, June 3, 2013, https://jihadology.net/2013/06/03/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-another-supplier-of-iraqi-shia-fighters-in-syria/; Michael Knights, “Iran's Foreign Legion: The Role of Iraqi Shiite Militias in Syria,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy, June 27, 2013, https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-foreign-legion-the-role-of-iraqi-shiite-militias-in-syria.
KSS is believed to have close ties to Hezbollah. Its members have fought alongside both Hezbollah and IRGC officers during the Syrian regimen-led sieges of Dara’a and Quneitra.“Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada,” Mapping Militant Organizations, last updated December 28, 2016, https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/629; David Axe, “Made in America, But Lost in Iraq,” Foreign Policy, March 2, 2018, https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/02/u-s-made-tanks-that-fell-into-militia-hands-in-iraq-sparks-assistance-standoff.
In October 2018, KSS Secretary-General Abu Waala al Wa’eli announced his group’s allegiance with the Houthis in a press statement.Caleb Weiss, “Iraqi Shia Militia ‘Willing to Send Fighters to Yemen,’” Long War Journal, July 9, 2018, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/07/iraqi-shia-militia-willing-to-send-fighters-to-yemen.php. In the statement, he declared his personal loyalty to Houthi leader Abdel Malik al-Houthi before claiming that KSS “is a faction” within the Houthi movement.Caleb Weiss, “Iraqi Shia Militia ‘Willing to Send Fighters to Yemen,’” Long War Journal, July 9, 2018, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/07/iraqi-shia-militia-willing-to-send-fighters-to-yemen.php. These announcements came three years after KSS threatened to attack Saudi Arabia outside of Iraq.Bill Roggio, “Popular Mobilization Committee Militia Threatens to ‘Strike and Destroy’ the Saudi Government,” Long War Journal, October 30, 2015, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/10/popular-mobilization-committee-militia-threatens-to-strike-and-destroy-the-saudi-government.php.
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
Fact:
On May 8, 2019, Taliban insurgents detonated an explosive-laden vehicle and then broke into American NGO Counterpart International’s offices in Kabul. At least seven people were killed and 24 were injured.
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