Akram Abbas al-Ka'abi (; born 17 July 1977) is an Iraqi militant leader who is the founder and Secretary-General of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HHN) in Iraq. Kaabi is a U.S.-designated terrorist who is regarded as one of the main operatives of

IRGC The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979 i ...

Quds Force The Quds Force () is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It specializes in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War General Stanley McChrystal describes the Quds Fo ...

in Iraq. He has been an ardent supporter and promoter of Iranian influence in Iraq while being the most outspoken critic of American military presence as he seeks to compel U.S. forces to withdraw completely from Iraq. Al-Kaabi's militia, HHN, emerged in 2013 as an offshoot of the Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitary group Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq.

Early life and militant career

Al-Kaabi was born in 1977 in the city of

Amarah Amarah (), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between ...

, a Shi'ite city in southern Iraq. He studied religion in the Shi'ite holy city of

Najaf Najaf is the capital city of the Najaf Governorate in central Iraq, about 160 km (99 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2024 is about 1.41 million people. It is widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam an ...

, where he was a student of Ayatollah Muhammad-Sadiq al-Sadr, father of Iraqi

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

and militia leader

Muqtada al-Sadr Muqtada al-Sadr (; born 4 August 1974) is an Iraqi Shia Muslim cleric, politician and militia leader. He inherited the leadership of the Sadrist Movement from his father, and founded the now dissolved Mahdi Army militia in 2003 that resisted ...

. Afterwards he went on to serve as an imam at a mosque in the city of Musayyib in central Iraq. In 2003, al-Kaabi joined the Sadrist

Mahdi Army The Mahdi Army () was an Iraqi Shia militia created by Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008. The Mahdi Army rose to international prominence on April 4, 2004, when it spearheaded the first major armed confrontation against the ...

, where he planned and led attacks against Iraqi and U.S.-led Coalition forces with training and funding from Iran's Quds Force. He left the Mahdi Army in 2008 and later became the deputy leader of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq. In an interview with ''

Long War Journal ''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. ...

'', al-Kaabi stated he would overthrow the

Iraqi government The government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as a democratic, parliamentary republic with Islam as the official state religion. The government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branche ...

if ordered by Iran’s Supreme Leader

Ali Khamenei Ali Hosseini Khamenei (; born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He previously served as the third President of Iran, president from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei's tenure ...

. Al-Kaabi formed HHN militia in 2013 in response to the rise of

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

in Syria, calling for Iraqi Shi'ite militias to travel to Syria and fight alongside the Syrian government.

Sanctions

On 16 September 2008, the

U.S. Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current U.S. government departments. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and ...

designated Akram al-Kaabi as a

Specially Designated Global Terrorist A Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) is a person or entity that has been designated as such by the United States Department of State or the U.S. Department of the Treasury. An SDGT designation is made under authority of U.S. Executive ...

(SDGT) "for threatening the peace and stability of Iraq." The sanction is based on Executive Order 13438 and al-Kaabi was placed on OFAC's

Specially Designated Nationals List The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...

. On 5 March 2019, the U.S. Department of State designated al-Kaabi as an international terrorist pursuant to the counterterrorism authority Executive Order 13224 due to his involvement in carrying out attacks against Coalition forces and innocent Iraqi citizens.

Notes

External links

Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011) Iraqi Shia clerics Iraqi Shia Muslims Terrorism in Iraq Living people 1977 births Anti-American sentiment in the Middle East Anti-Zionism in Iraq People of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) Members of the Popular Mobilization Forces People of the Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011) Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government People sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act {{Iraq-bio-stub