Hadi al-Amiri

Hadi al-Amiri
Member of Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 July 2014
Minister for Transport
In office
21 December 2010 – 8 September 2014
Prime MinisterNour al-Maliki
Preceded byAmer Abdoljalil
Succeeded byBaqir Jabr al-Zubeidi
President of the Badr Organization
Incumbent
Assumed office
16 July 2009
Preceded byBaqir Jabr al-Zubeidi
Personal details
Born (1954-07-01) 1 July 1954 (age 70)
Diyala, Kingdom of Iraq
Political partyBadr Organization
Other political
affiliations		Fatah Alliance
Alma materUniversity of Baghdad
Military service
Allegiance Iraq
Branch/servicePopular Mobilization Forces
Years of service1982–present
RankCommander
UnitBadr Brigade
Battles/wars

Hadi al-Amiri (Arabic: هادي العامري, romanized: Hādī al-'Āmirī; born 1 July 1954) is an Iraqi politician who is the head and secretary general of the Badr Organization, a Shiite political party and paramilitary organization based in Iraq.

Biography

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As a young man, Hadi al-Ameri was part of the (armed) struggle against the Saddam Hussein regime. During the Iran-Iraq war, he took refuge in Iran and stayed there until the fall of Saddam Hussein. There he participated in the founding of the Badr Organization|Badr Brigade, an armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite political party which fought the Iraqi regime during the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988.[1]

Amiri has denied claims that he has overseen flights passing through Iraqi airspace from Iran to Syria containing shipments of weapons to help the Syrian Government in the Syrian Civil War.[1] However, he has proclaimed his affection for Qasem Soleimani, the late commander of Quds Force, a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was believed to have been playing an instrumental part in supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the conflict.[1]

He was the commander of Iraqi forces in the operation to liberate Jurf Al Sakhar during 2014 Iraqi conflict.[2] As a commander in Popular Mobilization Forces, he has been active in the operations against ISIL. He has been described as "perhaps the most powerful and pro-Iranian" leader in the Popular Mobilization Forces and often met Brett H. McGurk, President Donald J. Trump's US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL.[3] He is fluent in Persian.[4]

In 2011, he accompanied the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on a visit to the White House during Barack Obama's presidency, in his capacity as Secretary of Transportation and also as a foe of (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein.[5][6]

On 31 December 2019, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Qais Khazali, and Falih Al-Fayyadh, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed him to be a leader of the attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad.[6] In the aftermath of the 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike which resulted in the deaths of Qasem Soleimani and Muhandis, Amiri was seen as a candidate to replace Muhandis as a leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces,[7] an Iraqi coalition of militias which fought against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group.

2021 Iraqi elections

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Amiri dismissed the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary election as "fabricated".[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Dexter Filkins, Dexter (30 September 2013). "The Shadow Commander". The New Yorker. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  2. ^ Morris, Loveday; Salim, Mustafa (25 October 2014). "Iraqi forces press to secure Shiite south before religious observances believed to be target of Islamic State". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  3. ^ "As Islamic State withers, the alliance against it is fraying". The Economist. 31 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  4. ^ "America and Iran are jostling for influence over Iraq". The Economist. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  5. ^ "Leader of U.S. Embassy siege in Iraq was guest of Obama at White House". The Washington Times. 2 January 2020.
  6. ^ a b "US embassy siege leader was guest at White House during Obama presidency". Al Arabiya English. 3 January 2020. Archived from the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  7. ^ Aboulenein, Ahmed; El Dahan, Maha (3 January 2020). "Large crowds mourn Iranian general, others killed in U.S. air strike". Reuters. Archived from the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Iraqi pro-Iranian politician Amiri rejects election results as fabricated - TV". Reuters. 12 October 2021 – via www.reuters.com.
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