Abu Alaa al-Walae, Iraqi Militia Leader, Supporting al-Assad and the Houthis

Contrary to the official position in Iraq rejecting attacks on the Gulf states, the Secretary-General of the Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada militia, Abu Alaa al-Walae, blessed the operations of the Yemeni Houthi militia against the UAE on January 18, 2022, and considered them “heroic operations.”

A day earlier, the Houthi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced that they had carried out a military operation against the UAE with 5 ballistic and winged missiles, and a large number of drones, targeting Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports, an oil refinery and other targets.

Pro-Iran

Abu Alaa al-Walae tweeted: "We congratulate the Yemeni resistance for their heroic operation, which revealed the weakness of the tyrants’ spider web. Day after day, the truth of the divine victory of God’s pious servants is consolidated, no matter how much the technology of killing is among the aggressors, so God has the right to help the believers."

He concluded his speech to say that “peace be upon the Mujahid brother Abdul-Malik Badr al-Din [the leader of the Houthis] whenever the calls of victory rise and give good tidings to those who are patient.”

Abu Alaa al-Walae's position on the Gulf states is not new, as he warned on January 1, 2020, to target the embassies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, calling for their withdrawal from Iraq.

The Secretary-General of the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada said on Twitter: “When the US embassy is besieged, all US camps will be besieged, in addition to the embassies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.”

Al-Walae added that “the line extending from the siege of the American embassy in Tehran in 1979 to the siege of its embassy in Baghdad today in 2019, summarizes the whole history.”

Thousands of Iraqis, supporters of armed factions loyal to Iran, attacked the US embassy in Baghdad, to protest against US airstrikes in Iraq in December 2020 targeting the headquarters of a faction loyal to Tehran, killing 25 of its fighters.

Al-Walae announced on August 1, 2016, that Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada is an ideological formation linked to Wilayat al-faqih, indicating that it is not affected by the moods and whims of politicians in Iraq.

He stressed that “our compliance in joining the Popular Mobilization came from our love for defending the homeland and the sanctities.”

 

Pro-Assad

Al-Walae, whose real name is Hashem Banyan al-Siraji, is the leader of the Iran-backed Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada militia (14th Brigade in the Popular Mobilization), worked with the Crisis Cell and provided snipers for the crackdown.

The name "Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada" appeared in 2012 as part of campaigns to recruit Iraqi youth, especially from popular neighborhoods, to engage them in fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

Al-Walae was given a role in the forces of "Iraq's Neighbors", an armed auxiliary of the army, founded by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and participated in battles against ISIS in the first half of 2014.

The militia is currently affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Authority, although al-Walae admits that not all of the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada are under the command of the PMF.

He said during a television interview in 2020, that they are fighting in Iraq under the name of the 14th Popular Mobilization Brigade, and in Syria under the name of Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

He assumed the position of Secretary-General of the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada militia since 2014, succeeding the founding Secretary-General Abu Mustafa al-Shaibani, and participated in many military operations against ISIS, such as Fallujah, Amerli, Jurf al-Nasr and Mosul.

He also participated and led the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada militia in Syria's battles with the regime forces, under the pretext of defending religious shrines, specifically the Sayyidah Zaynab shrine in Damascus.

He is considered the most prominent role in the development of the work of the battalions, which has become a force of the Popular Mobilization Units, through its missile armament, which it claims to be manufactured locally.

He had a very close relationship with Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Iranian Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, who were killed in a US raid on January 3, 2020, near Baghdad International Airport.

Al-Walae declared his affiliation with the so-called "Axis of Resistance,” having a relationship with the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, where he declared in 2018 that “a soldier is at the disposal of Mr. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.”

He repeatedly declared in his speeches his rejection of the US presence in Iraq and work to get it out, and his commitment to "the regional equation and support for Hezbollah in Lebanon in any confrontation."

 

Exciting Situations

On October 15, 2021, Abu Alaa al-Walae called for "cloning" the experience of the Popular Mobilization in Afghanistan, after the American withdrawal and the Taliban movement's control of the country.

Al-Walae posted on Twitter, saying: "Once again, terrorism attacks the Shiites of Ahl al-Bayt in southern Afghanistan, for nothing but their loyalty to the Commander of the Faithful Ali."

On March 16, 2021, al-Walae launched an attack on the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Massoud Barzani, calling for work to help the Kurds to put an end to what he described as dictatorship.

Al-Walae tweeted: “We will work hard to prevent the budget law from being passed if it allows you to control the money of the Iraqi and Kurdish people,” he meant Mr. Massoud Barzani.

He added: "We will help the honorable Kurds in the provinces of the region, to be freed from your greed. It is time to put an end to your hateful dictatorship."

On November 20, 2021, al-Walae said that “amid the major confrontation, the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada announced the opening of the door for volunteers to be prepared for the decisive and historic confrontation with the American occupation on December 31, 2021, after 12 pm.”

But he did nothing despite the United States' announcement that it would keep a number of its forces.

The commander of the armed wing of the Christian movement in Iraq, Rayan al-Kildani, stated that al-Walae had responded to the call to postpone military operations.