By Tahseen Wsu Abdullah
In June 2014 (the second term of Nuri al-Maliki), a fatwa issued by Iraq’s Supreme Shiite Marja, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, established the Hashd al-Shaabi as a force outside the Iraqi army without any constitutional basis. The reason for the establishment of this force was that the Iraqi army as the official institution of the state could not fight properly against the forces of the terrorist organization ISIL. According to constitutional logic, this force is outside the legal framework, since it was created for a specific purpose and time, so whenever that situation passes, it must be abolished.
Because of all these factors, it was expected that after the war against ISIS, the Hashd al-Shaabi would be dissolved and the official state forces (army and other institutions) would once again take over the task of defending these areas.
However, contrary to all expectations, the force not only did not dissolve, but in December 2016 by the House of Representatives passed a special law, which outside the state army a special committee called (High Committee of Hashdi al- Shaabi). Not only did the force remain within the framework of military and security tasks, but the equation changed completely.
In other words, the Hashd al-Shaabi forces have become the dominant force in the state, so that government policies are directed by them. Some of these groups say they take orders from outside and are not ready to take any orders from anyone else and do not consider the orders of the head of the armed forces, who is the prime minister.
Along with their political position, the force now has a huge budget of about $3 billion. In terms of composition (67) different groups and operate under different names, some of the main groups of the force has been put on the terror list by the United States, including Iraqi Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq.
The events of the past two years in the region, which began on October 7, 2023 with an attack by the Palestinian Hamas movement on an Israeli tourist area, were the bitter beginning of the story for all the forces calling themselves the anti-US-Israeli resistance front. As a sectarian group, Hashd al-Shaabi faced intense opposition to US policies.
After the inauguration of the new US administration (in December this year), Donald Trump as US president is known to be very opposed to the forces that have identified themselves as the resistance front. Hashd al-Shaabi as a force in this context became a major issue of US policy in Iraq. The force is now under intense pressure from the United States, which is calling for its dissolution, putting the Hashd al- Shaabi under serious threat. There are two options: one is to dissolve the Hashd al- Shabi through a resolution of the House of Representatives and make it part of the state army. It is unclear whether the United States will agree to this option or not. The second option is to stand up to the United States, which is seen as a major challenge for these forces, because they do not seem to be able to confront the United States, especially after the regional level.
Because he believes these are the biggest threats to US interests, not only in Iraq, but also in the region.
Although the Hashd al-Shaabi was made part of the state army by an order of the Iraqi parliament, they have never obeyed the orders of the prime minister and have not acted as a force subject to government decisions and reflected in their actions.