Are Shiite Militias More Powerful than Army?

“In the battles fought by the army and the Shiite militias against the IS group in Salahaddin, there were always borders separating the army from the Shiite militias," Captain Muhammad al-Saadi told NIQASH. “In some cases there were joint battles fought though. And it was during these that we were able to see that the Shiite militias have new weapons.”

These included Iranian-made 106 mm anti-tank guns as well as 120mm, 82mm and 60mm mortars.

"They also have some US-made weapons, which they have from the government,” the captain noted. “The most prominent among these is the Steiner-scoped sniper rifle and the M16 rifle.”

The militias don’t usually have Hummer military vehicles or tanks such as those owned by the Iraqi army. They mostly use medium-sized pickup trucks to carry their weapons and men around. But these may well be more useful than tanks because a lot of the fighting between them and the IS group takes place, street by street, between buildings in residential areas.

“Everyone thinks that the Iraqi army is the main force fighting the IS group and that the Shiite militias support the army,” al-Saadi explained. “But the reality on the ground would suggest that the army doesn’t actually have any authority over these militias and that the militias make their own decisions.”

Additionally, the soldier says that the various militias don’t even work together. “The League of the Righteous won’t work with the Peace Brigades. Each group works separately and there have been conflicts arising in some areas about who is in control of what,” al-Saadi points out.

It is also an open secret that senior officers from the Iranian military are present in Iraq and working with some of the Shiite militias. Several of the militias’ leaders have a really good relationship with Iran, some of them have fought with, or been trained by, the Iranians – this includes Hadi al-Ameri of the Badr Brigades, Qais al-Khazali of the League of the Righteous and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes of Hezbollah.