Blog：Militia

Born in 1950, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim came from a prominent family from the holy city of Najaf. His father, Grand Ayatollah Muhsen al-Hakim, was the most widely-followed marja, or source of emulation, of the Shia world until his death in 1970.
After his death, Hakim and the family continued the ayatollah’s support of Shia Islamist opposition groups, campaigning against the secular, Sunni-dominated Baathist regime.
The Iraqi government responded by suppressing the Shia community, their leaders and traditions. Six of Hakim’s seven brothers were killed, while more than 50 members of his extended family were executed.
Shortly before the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980, Hakim and his elder brother, Muhammad, left Najaf for Iran.
In 1982, the two brothers helped found Sciri, a coalition linking a number of Iraqi Shia opposition organisations that called for the establishment of an Islamic order in Iraq.
Muhammad Baqr soon became the group’s chairman, while Abdul Aziz occupied the important posts of deputy chairman and commander of its military wing, the Badr Brigade.
Funded and trained by Iran, the Badr Brigade fought alongside Iranian troops against the Iraqi army in Kurdistan during the Iran-Iraq War. It was believed to have 20,000 fighters prior to the 2003 invasion.
In 1991, following the end of the Gulf War, thousands of Badr fighters crossed over the border into Iraq to support the Shia rebellion in the South, but it was swiftly suppressed by the state.