Mukhtar Army
| Mukhtar Army | |
|---|---|
| جيش المختار | |
The flag of the Mukhtar Army. The flag is identifical to the flag of Hezbollah, except for the text under the emblem, with the Muktar Army flag featuring the line "النهضة الاسلامية في العراق" (The Islamic Renaissance in Iraq). | |
| Leaders | Wathiq al-Battat |
| Dates of operation | February 2013 – present |
| Country | Iraq |
| Allegiance | Iran |
| Headquarters | Unknown |
| Active regions | Iraq (2013-present) Syria (2013-2024) |
| Ideology | Shia Islamism Wilayat al Faqih |
| Size | Unknown |
| Part of | Islamic Resistance in Iraq |
| Allies | Iraq Iran (Claimed by Battat, denied by the IRGC) |
| Opponents | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant People's Mujahedin of Iran Free Iraqi Army |
| Battles and wars | the Iraqi insurgency War in Iraq (2013–2017) Syrian Civil War |
The Mukhtar Army is a Shi'a Iraqi militia group formed in February 2013 by Wathiq al-Battat, a former senior official in the Hezbollah Brigades. Al-Battat pledged his loyalty to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Al-Battat was arrested briefly on 2 January 2014 but was released despite still being a fugitive. He was allegedly "accidentally assassinated" at point-blank range on 20 December 2014 at a fake police checkpoint in eastern Iraq by an unknown party but has since been reported alive and has appeared in the public eye.