Tribal Mobilisation Forces in Iraq: Subtleties of Formation and Consequential Power Dynamics

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to investigate the Iraqi state’s utilization of tribalism to mobilize and deploy forces against its opponents. The paper argues that state elites exploit tribal divisions for short-term gain, ignoring their detrimental effects on national unity. The case study laid out in this paper, that of Salahedin Brigade, a tribal mobilization unit that was established in Shirqat by members of the al-Jabbour tribe in 2015, shows how tribalism is nurtured when central power is held by an uneasy few, who prefer to govern through the tactics of divide and conquer rather than confront the basic contradictions in their society.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Derek Harvey and Micheal Pregent, ‘Who’s to blame for Iraq crisis’, CNN, 12 June 2014, https://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/12/opinion/pregent-harvey-northern-iraq-collapse/.

² Erica Gaston, ‘Sunni Tribal Forces’, GPPi, 30 August 2017, https://www.gppi.net/2017/08/30/sunni-tribal-forces.

³ Cynthia Enloe, Ethnic Soldiers: State Security in Divided Societies (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1982).

⁴ Aziz al-Azmeh and Nadia al-Bagdadi, ‘Introduction’, in Striking From The Margins: State, Religion and Devolution of Authority in the Middle, eds. Aziz al-Azmeh, Nadia al-Bagdadi, Harout Akdedian and Harith Hasan (London: Saqi Books, 2020).

⁵ This practise is exercised for as long as reconciliation has not been achieved. The victim side can also decide that the perpetrator (and sometimes his close relatives) cannot return for a certain period (and this ranges from several months to forever).

⁶ Faleh A. Jabar ‘Shaykhs and Ideologues: Detribalization and Retribalization in Iraq, 1968–1998’, Middle East Report, 2000, no. 215 (Summer, 2000): 28–31, 48.

⁷ Bassam Tibi, ‘The Simultaneity of the Unsimultaneous: Old Tribes and Imposed Nation-States in the Modern Middle East’, in Tribes and State Formation in the Middle East, eds. Philip Khoury and Joseph Kostiner (London: Tauris, 1991), 127–152.

⁸ Wolfram Lacher, Libya’s Fragmentation: Structure and Process in Violent Conflict (I. B. Tauris, 2020).

⁹ Yoav Alon (2021). Tribalism in the Middle East: A Useful Prism for Understanding the Region. International

Journal of Middle East Studies 53, 477–481. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743821000787

¹⁰ Jamie Allinson, The Struggle for the State in Jordan: The Social Origins of Alliances in the Middle East (I.B. Tauris, 2015).

¹¹ Robert Brenner, ‘Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe’, in The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe, eds. Trevor Ashton and Charles Philpin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).

¹² Moshe Ma’oz, Ottoman Reform in Syria and Palestine, (1840–1860) (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968).

¹³ Ebubekir Ceylan, The Ottoman Origins of Modern Iraq: Political Reform, Modernization and Development in the Nineteenth-century Middle East (London; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011)

¹⁴ Antony B. Toth, ‘Last Battles of the Bedouin in Northern Arabia: 1850–1950’, in Nomads of the Middle East and North Africa: Entering the 21st Century, Handbook of Oriental Studies Volume 81, ed. Dawn Chatty (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 49–76.

¹⁵ Martin Van Bruinesses, ‘Kurds, States, and Tribes’, in Tribes and Power: Nationalism and Ethnicity in the Middle East, eds. Faleh A. Jabar and Hosham Dawod (London: Saqi, 2003), 172–3.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ David MacDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1996), 312.

¹⁸ Ariel I. Ahram, Proxy Warriors: The Rise and Fall of State-Sponsored Militias (California: Stanford University Press, 2011).

¹⁹ Jabar, ‘Shaykhs and Ideologues’, 28–31, 48.

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ Anthony Cordesman, Iran’s Developing Military Capabilities (Washington DC: CSIS Press, 2005).

²² Faleh A. Jabar, ‘The Iraqi Army and Anti-Army: Some Reflections on the Role of the Military’, Adelphi Paper 43, no. 354 (2003): 100–1.

²³ Amatzia Baram, ‘Neo-Tribalism in Iraq: Saddam Hussein’s Tribal Policies 1991–96’, International Journal of Middle East Studies 29, no. 1 (February 1997): 1–31.

²⁴ Ibid.

²⁵ Jabar, ‘The Iraqi Army and Anti-Army’, 100–1.

²⁶ Alissa J. Rubin and Damien Cave, ‘In a Force for Iraqi Calm, Seeds of Conflict’, The New York Times, 23 December 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/world/middleeast/23awakening.html?pagewanted=all.

²⁷ Todd Pitman, ‘Sunni Sheiks Join Fight Vs. Insurgency’, The Washington Post, 25 March 2007, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500600.html.

²⁸ BBC News, ‘Iraqi insurgents kill key US ally’, 13 September 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6993211.stm.

²⁹ BBC News, ‘Q&A: Iraq’s Awakening Councils’, 18 July 2020, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10677623.

³⁰ Ramzy Mardini, ‘Preventing the Next Insurgency: A Pathway for Reintegrating Iraq’s Sunni Population’, Foreign Policy Research Institute, 29 April 2020, https://www.fpri.org/article/2020/04/preventing-next-insurgency-pathway-reintegrating-iraq-sunni/.

³¹ EASO, ‘EASO Country of Origin Information Report: Iraq Security situation’, March 2019, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Iraq_security_situation.pdf.

³² Congressional Research Service, ‘DOD Train and Equip Authorities to Counter the Islamic State’, 9 January 2015, https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc811092/m2/1/high_res_d/IF10040_2015Jan09.pdf.

³³ Erica Gaston and András Dersi-Horváth, ‘Iraq After ISIL: Sub-State Actors, Local Forces, and the Micro-Politics of Control’, GPPi, March 2018, https://www.gppi.net/media/Gaston_Derzsi-Horvath_Iraq_After_ISIL.pdf.

³⁴ Gaston, ‘Sunni Tribal Forces’.

³⁵ Amnesty International, ‘Iraq: Tribal militia tortured detainees in revenge attacks during Mosul offensive’, 2 November 2016, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/11/iraq-tribal-militia-tortured-detainees-in-revenge-attacks-during-mosul-offensive/.

³⁶ Ibid.

³⁷ Sinan Adnan and ISW Iraq Team, ‘Iraq Situation Report, March 5–6, 2015’, Institute for the Study of War, Iraq Updates, 6 March 2015, http://iswiraq.blogspot.de/2015/03/iraq-situation-report-march-5-6-2015.html.

³⁸ Human Rights Watch, ‘Ruinous Aftermath: Militias Abuses Following Iraq’s Recapture of Tikrit’, 20 September 2015, https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/09/20/ruinous-aftermath/militias-abuses-following-iraqs-recapture-tikrit#_ftn31.

³⁹ Bahra Saleh, ‘Iraq after ISIL: Shirqat District’, GPPi, 22 September 2017, https://www.gppi.net/2017/09/22/iraq-after-isil-shirqat.

⁴⁰ Baram, ‘Neo-Tribalism in Iraq’, 1–31.

⁴¹ Abdulkarim Ali, a member of the al-Jabbour tribe who lives in Shirqat was interviewed via WhatsApp on 22 May 2021.

⁴² Abdul Rahman al-Majedi, ‘Releasing Mashan al-Jabbouri: one day after his arrest’, Elaph, 19 December 2013, https://elaph.com/Web/news/2013/12/859102.html.

⁴³ This mapping was produced after conducting multiple interviews with members of the al-Jabbour tribe in Shirqat.

⁴⁴ An interview with a member of al-Jabour tribe who lives in Shirqat. 29 May 2021.

⁴⁵ Saleh, ‘Iraq after ISIL’.

⁴⁶ Mike Martin, ‘KTO Kovo? Tribes and Jihad in Pushtun Lands’, in Tribes and Global Jihadism, eds. Virginie Collombier and Olivier Roy (London: Hurst, 2017).

⁴⁷ Jessa R. Dury-Agri, Omer Kassim, and Patrick Martin, ‘Iraqi Security Forces and Popular Mobilization Forces:

Orders of Battle’, Institute for the Study of War, December 2017, http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Iraq%20-%20ISF%20PMF%20Orders%20of%20Battle_0_0.pdf.

⁴⁸ Salahedin TV, ‘Special meeting with Ashem Sabhan al-Jabbouri’, Salah El Din Satellite Channel, 29 April 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUQHa9MhQMo.

⁴⁹ Stathis. N. Kalyvas, ‘The Ontology of “Political Violence”: Action and Identity in Civil Wars’, Perspectives on Politics 1, no. 3, (September 2003): 475–494.

⁵⁰ International Crisis Group, ‘Averting an ISIS Resurgence in Iraq and Syria’, Middle East Report, no. 207, 11 October 2019, https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/207-averting-an-isis-resurgence.pdf.

⁵¹ An interview with a member of al-Jabour tribe who lives in Shirqat. 17 May 2021.

⁵² Harrison Akins, ‘Tribal militias and political legitimacy in British India and Pakistan’, Asian Security 16, no. 3 (2020): 304–322.

⁵³ Fjir J. Alwan, ‘The Tribal Power in Contemporary Iraq: A Sociological Analysis’, Journal of College of Education for Women 31, no. 2 (June 2020).

⁵⁴ Khaled al-Obaidi, ‘Iraq: Wide Sunni Shitte disagreements regarding establishing national army units’, 2014.

⁵⁵ Saleh, ‘Iraq after ISIL’.

⁵⁶ Gaston and Dersi-Horváth, ‘Iraq After ISIL’.

⁵⁷ Ibid.

⁵⁸ An interview with a member of al-Jabour tribe who lives in Shirqat. 29 May 2021.

⁵⁹ Shelly Kittleson, ‘Iraqi police who fought for tribal PMUs won’t return to force’, al-Monitor, 11 April 2018,

https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2018/04/shirqat-police-pmu-iraq.html#ixzz72T7IJKLy.

⁶⁰ Human Rights Watch, ‘Iraq: Displacement, Detention of Suspected “ISIS Families”’, 5 March 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/05/iraq-displacement-detention-suspected-isis-families.

⁶¹ Wolfram Lacher, Libya’s Fragmentation: Structure and Process in Violent Conflict (I. B. Tauris, 2020).

⁶² An interview with a member of al-Jabour tribe who lives in Shirqat. 29 May 2021.

⁶³ Richard T. Antoun, Low-Key Politics: Local-Level Leadership and Change in the Middle East (New York: State University of New York Press, 1979).

⁶⁴ It is worth mentioning that Sheikh Asham passed away in September 2021, a few months after the research for this paper was completed. Sheikh Ali Khalid, who is the nephew of Shaykh Asham is now replacing him to lead Salahaddin Brigade

⁶⁵ Goran Peic, ‘Divide and Co-Opt: Private Agendas, Tribal Groups, and Militia Formation in Counterinsurgency Wars’, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 22, no. 12 (Jun 2019): 1022–1049.

⁶⁶ Dury-Agri, Kassim, and Martin, ‘Iraqi Security Forces and Popular Mobilization Forces’.

⁶⁷ An interview with a member of al-Jabour tribe who lives in Shirqat. 12 May 2021.

⁶⁸ An interview with a member of al-Jabour tribe who lives in Shirqat. 29 May 2021.

⁶⁹ Gaston and Dersi-Horváth, ‘Iraq After ISIL’.

⁷⁰ An interview with a member of al-Jabour tribe who lives in Shirqat. 8 May 2021.

⁷¹ Ali A. Mazrui, ‘Violent Contiguity and the Politics of Retribalization in Africa’, Journal of International Affairs (New York) 23, no. 1 (January 1969): 89–105.

⁷² M. A. Mohamed Salih, ‘“New Wine in Old Bottles”: Tribal Militias and the Sudanese State’, Review of African Political Economy 45, no. 46 (1989): 168–174.

⁷³ Alwatan Voice, ‘Shocking video shows member of the Parliament Mashan al-Jabbouri assault the correspondent of Iraqia TV station in Shirqat’, 25 September 2016, https://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/news/2016/09/25/972653.html.

⁷⁴ Harout Akdedian and Harith Hasan, ‘Conclusion’, in Striking From The Margins: State, Religion and Devolution of Authority in the Middle East, eds. Aziz al-Azmeh, Nadia al-Bagdadi, Harith Hasan, and Harout Akdedian (London: Saqi Books, 2021).

⁷⁵ Jabar, ‘Shaykhs and Ideologues’, 28–31, 48.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.