Shabak Brigade

Headquartered in the historically Assyrian, Shabak majority town of Bartella, the Shabak Brigade is politically affiliated with the Shabak Democratic Assembly,{{Cite web |title=Iraqi decision to remove Shabak PMU from Ninevah Plains stirs conflict - Al-Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2019/08/iraq-mosul-shabak-pmu-nineveh-plains.html |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=www.al-monitor.com |language=en}} and militarily operates under the leadership of the Badr Organization.{{Cite web |title=Hizballah Cavalcade: Quwat Sahl Nīnawā: Iraq's Shia Shabak Get Their Own Militia |url=https://jihadology.net/2015/01/12/hizballah-cavalcade-quwat-sahl-ninawa-iraqs-shia-shabak-get-their-own-militia/ |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=jihadology.net}} The Shabak community had insisted on the formation of a Shabak militia after claims that the Kurdish Regional Government and Assyrian groups had expanded into Shabak lands, while also advocating for the formation of greater autonomy, protection of Shabaki cultural and religious sites, and a distinct Shabak-Shia identity.{{cite journal |last1 = Akbar | first1 = Ali | last2 = Isakhan| first2 = Benjamin| date = 13 April 2023| title = The Islamic State, Shia religious clerics and the mobilisation of Shia militias in Iraq and Syria| url = https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13569775.2023.2196875#abstract| volume = 29| issue = 5 |journal = Contemporary Politics | pages = 18}} The Brigade was initially formed as the Nineveh Plains Forces (قوات سهل نينوی), not to be confused with the Nineveh Plain Forces. The Shabak Brigade is officially known as the "30th Brigade" of the Popular Mobilization Forces after November 23, 2014.{{Cite web |title=Profile: Hashd al-Shabak (30th PMF Brigade) |date=22 June 2022 |last=Malik |first=Hamdi |last2=Knights |first2=Michael |last3=Beth-Addai |first3=Yaqoub |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/profile-hashd-al-shabak-30th-pmf-brigade |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=washingtoninstitute.org}}

Former Shabak member of the Iraqi Parliament, Salim Juma, claimed that he obtained 'verbal approval' from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense for the creation of the force to 'fight ISIS terrorists.’{{Cite web |date=2014-09-23 |title=Shabak Community forms military force of 1500 fighters to fight ISIS in Nineveh |url=https://www.iraqinews.com/baghdad-politics/shabak-community-forms-military-force-of-1-00-fighters-to-fight-isil-in-nineveh/ |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=Iraqi News |language=en-US}} Unlike the case of the Babylon Brigades (Brigade 50), the overwhelming majority of the Shabak Brigade are local men. Although the militia was initially formed with 1500 members, videos recorded afterwards show no more than 500 active members, though estimates to the actual number couldn't be recorded. Videos later released by the group, however, appear to only show 500 fighters at most, though accurate estimates can not be drawn from said videos.{{cite web|last=Smyth|first=Phillip|url=https://jihadology.net/2015/01/12/hizballah-cavalcade-quwat-sahl-ninawa-iraqs-shia-shabak-get-their-own-militia/ |title=Quwat Sahl Ninawa Iraq's Shia Shabak get their own Militia |publisher=Hizballah Cavalcade |access-date=2015-01-12}}

The Shabak Brigade has been at the centerpiece of controversy among those in the Popular Mobilization Forces due to its unpredictability. In addition to their positions in Bartella and surrounding Shabak areas, Brigade 30 controls the main trade highway between Mosul and Erbil. The Brigade's control over the checkpoint has been classified as illegal, but previous attempts by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his successor Adil Abdul-Mahdi failed to reduce their presence in the checkpoint.{{cite web|last=Foulkes|first=John|date=4 June 2021|url=https://jamestown.org/brief/irans-man-in-nineveh-waad-qado-and-the-pmfs-30th-brigade/ |title=Iran’s Man in Nineveh: Waad Qado and the PMF’s 30th Brigade |publisher=The Jamestown Foundation |access-date=2024-09-11}} The Brigade is known to place portraits of the Shiite Imam Ali and Hussein over areas they control.{{cite web|last=Neurink|first=Judit|date=7 August 2019|url=https://www.dw.com/en/iraq-caught-between-militias-and-islamic-state/a-49912478 |title=Caught between militias and 'Islamic State' |publisher=DW |access-date=2024-09-11}}

The Shabak Brigade is also noted for its severe human rights violations against Assyrians in the Nineveh Plains. The Assyrian Policy Institute (API) reports that the presence of Brigade 30 in Bartella has disrupted Christian Assyrian resettlement post-ISIS.{{Cite web |title=Contested Control: The Future of Security in Iraq's Nineveh Plain |url=https://www.assyrianpolicy.org/contested-control |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=Assyrian Policy |language=en}} Brigade 30 soldiers have been accused of physical intimidation, rape, extortion, illegal arrests, kidnappings, and property theft. The API has recorded dozens of accounts of physical intimidation, sexual harassment, religious discrimination, robbery, and theft of land or property. Soldiers were also alleged to have threatened the town's primary Syriac Orthodox Church and its clergy.{{Cite book |url=https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498596978/International-Religious-Freedom-The-Rise-of-Global-Intolerance |title=International Religious Freedom: The Rise of Global Intolerance |language=en-us}}

Local populations fear that Brigade 30 is using the post-ISIS instability to seize a greater claim over cities like Qaraqosh (Bakhdida) and Bartella, and to advance demographic change in historically Assyrian areas. The shifting demographics in the Al-Hamdaniya District in recent decades have been a source of friction between Assyrians and Shabaks.{{Cite web |date=27 November 2020 |title=Bethnahrain Patriotic Union: Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian presence in Nineveh Plains endangered by Shiafication policies of Iran-backed Shabak militia |url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2020/11/27/bethnahrain-patriotic-union-chaldean-syriac-assyrian-presence-in-nineveh-plains-endangered-by-shiafication-policies-of-iran-backed-shabak-militia/ |website=Syriac Press |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Collective |first=Welance com-a Freelancers |title=Iraq after ISIL: Qaraqosh, Hamdaniya District |url=https://www.gppi.net/2017/08/05/iraq-after-isil-qaraqosh-hamdaniya-district |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=www.gppi.net |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Bisits |first=Xavier |date=27 February 2020|title=How Iran-backed fighters are making life hell for Iraq’s Christians |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/02/27/how-iran-backed-fighters-are-making-life-hell-iraqs-christians |website=America Magazine |language=en-US}}{{cite journal |last1 = Akbar | first1 = Ali | last2 = Isakhan| first2 = Benjamin| date = 4 December 2022| title = Problematizing norms of heritage and peace: Militia mobilization and violence in Iraq| url = https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/00108367221093161| volume = 57 | issue = 4 |journal = Cooperation and Conflict | pages = 18}} Although Qusay Abbas stressed that these violations were not representative of the entire Shabak community, individual Shabaks have also been encouraged to discriminate against Assyrians.{{cite web|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/features/2019/02/11/Wary-of-Shiite-militia-Iraqi-Christians-fear-returning-home |title=Wary of Shiite militia, Iraqi Christians fear returning home |publisher=AlArabiya News|date= 11 February 2019}}

The Shabak Brigade has also been accused of receiving missiles from Iran, and providing cover for facilities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Nineveh Plains, exacerbating the potential for a conflict in the region.{{Cite web |last=Collective |first=Welance com-a Freelancers |title=Iraq after ISIL: Qaraqosh, Hamdaniya District |url=https://cfri-irak.com/en/article/the-shabak-in-iraq-identity-shifts-amid-ethnic-and-sectarian-divides-2023-09-20 |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=cfri-irak.com/en |language=en-US}} Muslim scholars have also accused the Brigade of torturing prisoners.{{Cite web |date=19 June 2020 |title=Iraq: Muslim scholars say prisoners being tortured |url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200619-iraq-muslim-scholars-say-prisoners-being-tortured/ |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=middleeastmonitor.com |language=en-US}}

In July 2019, the United States levied sanctions against the group's leader, Waad Qado, for several human rights violations he committed as leader of the brigade.{{Cite web |title=Treasury Sanctions Persons Associated with Serious Human Rights Abuse and Corrupt Actors in Iraq |url=https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm735 |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=U.S. Department of the Treasury |language=en}}

Among these violations include stealing money from the population around Bartella through extortion, illegal arrests, and kidnappings. The 30th Brigade had also frequently detained people without warrants, or with fraudulent warrants, and has charged arbitrary customs fees at its checkpoints. Members of the local population had stated that the 30th Brigade has been responsible for egregious offenses including physical intimidation, extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and rape.

Although Qado no longer leads the Brigade, he retains a significant amount of influence through his election to the Iraqi Parliament, collecting around 21,000 votes.{{Cite web |title=Ex-militiaman sanctioned by US earns Shabak quota seat |url=https://www.kirkuknow.com/en/news/66702 |date=18 October 2021 |website=Kirkuk Now |language=en}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Popular Mobilization Forces}}

{{Armed Iraqi groups in the Iraq War and the Iraq Civil War}}

Category:Anti-ISIL factions in Iraq

Category:Paramilitary forces of Iraq

Category:Factions of the Popular Mobilization Forces

Category:Shabak people

Category:Shia Islamist groups

Category:2014 establishments in Iraq

Category:Axis of Resistance

Category:Military units and formations established in 2014