THE SHIITE JIHAD IN SYRIA AND ITS REGIONAL EFFECTS

22 n THE SHIITE JIHAD IN SYRIA
Damascus was pushing to establish friendly sectarian militias. 134 Many of the
LAFA commanders were reportedly Iraqi Shiite refugees who had previously
fought in militias at home before becoming refugees.
The core figures who helped establish LAFA included the group’s nominal
leader, Abu Ajeeb, along with the now deceased Abu Hajjar (Fadhel Subhi)
and Haidar al-Jabbouri (Abu Shahid), Ahmed Hajji Saadi, Abu Ali al-Darraji,
Ahmed Karaya (Abu Hamza), Sheikh Abu Karrar al-Bahladi, and Abu
Fatima al-Musawi. All helped develop LAFA as a viable military force, and
some eventually went on to command other groups within the network. 135
With the possible exception of Abu Ajeeb, whom Syrian rebels lampooned
as a Syrian Shiite vegetable salesman, all these leaders have Iraqi roots. Darraji,
for example, claims to have been an Iraqi refugee who had been seeking
asylum in the West. 136 While little is known about Musawi’s history, his subsequent
role as leader of Liwa Assad Allah al-Ghalib (LAAG) has demonstrated
a close link, including through similarities in LAAG’s logo, to AAH.
One LAAG commander, Qasim Abdul Mamuri, is also reportedly an AAH
member. 137 AAH connections to LAFA groups have likewise included fighters
deployed to Liwa Dhulfiqar, such as Ammar Ammar al-Tamimi. Jabbouri,
meanwhile, was first named a commander within LAFA and later, in mid-
2013, listed as a deputy commander of Liwa Dhulfiqar; after the death of
Abu Hajjar, who was then serving as Liwa’s commander, Jabbouri assumed
his position.
Karaya, who was killed in combat in late December 2012 and buried in
early January 2013 in his home neighborhood of Sadr City, Iraq, had a history
possibly pointing to early Iranian influence within LAFA. He exemplifies
offshoot members of the Sadrist Movement who have acted in Syria
and whose loyalty to al-Sadr himself is perhaps weaker than it is to Iraninfluenced
splinters. Karaya, a highly regarded sniper and commanding officer
during LAFA’s initial stages of development, had reportedly been part of
the Mahdi Army during the Iraq war and fought under Sheikh Azhar al-
Dulaimi, a Sunni convert to Shiism and one of the most anti-U.S. militia
leaders in Sadr City. 138
According to a leaked U.S. cable, Dulaimi had received training from Iran’s
IRGC and Lebanese Hezbollah and plotted to kidnap U.S. military personnel
in 2006. 139 Dulaimi’s actual fingerprints were later reportedly found at
the scene of an infamous and highly sophisticated January 2007 raid on the
Karbala Provincial Headquarters. During the attack, Iraqi Shiite militiamen
dressed in fatigues and driving vehicles used by security contractors and U.S.