Sadrist Movement

Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, father of the current leader of the Sadrist movement Muqtada al-Sadr.

During the 2009 Iraqi governorate elections Sadrists ran under the name Independent Free Movement.

During the 2010 Iraqi parliamentary election Sadrists were part of the National Iraqi Alliance.

In a press conference on 6 March 2010 ahead of the 2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Muqtada al-Sadr called on all Iraqis to participate in the election and support those who seek to expel U.S. troops out of the country. Al-Sadr warned that any interference by the United States will be unacceptable. Al-Sadr, who has thousands of staunch followers across Iraq has consistently opposed the presence of foreign forces and repeatedly called for an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq.[5][6]

Over time, numerous factions in the Sadrist Movement disagreed with Muqtada al-Sadr over various issues and broke off, forming separate militias and parties:

• Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq[7][8]
• Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Forces[7][8]
• Jaysh al-Mu'ammal[7][8]
• Tashkil al-Hussein al-Tha'ir[7]
• Kata'ib al-Tayyar al-Risali[7]
• Islamic Virtue Party[7]

In October 2012, various Iraqi religious sects join the conflict in Syria on both sides. Shiites from Iraq, in Babil Governorate and Diyala Governorate, have traveled to Damascus from Tehran, or from the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Iraq, claiming to protect Sayyida Zeinab, an important Shiite shrine in Damascus.[9] According to Abu Mohamed, with the Sadrist Trend, said he recently received an invitation from the Sadrists' leadership to discuss the shrine in Damascus.[9] A senior Sadrist official and former member of Parliament, speaking said that convoys of buses from Najaf, under the cover story of pilgrims, were carrying weapons and fighters to Damascus.[9] Some of the pilgrims were members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.[9]

However, later in 2017 following the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack in Syria, Muqtada al-Sadr called for Syria's president Bashar al-Assad to step down from power.[10][11]