Hadi al-Amiri (Arabic: هادي العامري, romanized: Hādī al-'Āmirī; born 1 July 1954) is an Iraqi politician who is the head and secretary general of the Badr Organization, a Shiite political party and paramilitary organization based in Iraq.
Biography
As a young man, Hadi al-Ameri was part of the (armed) struggle against the Saddam Hussein regime. During the Iran-Iraq war, he took refuge in Iran and stayed there until the fall of Saddam Hussein. There he participated in the founding of the Badr Organization|Badr Brigade, an armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite political party which fought the Iraqi regime during the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988.[1]
Amiri has denied claims that he has overseen flights passing through Iraqi airspace from Iran to Syria containing shipments of weapons to help the Syrian Government in the Syrian Civil War.[1] However, he has proclaimed his affection for Qasem Soleimani, the late commander of Quds Force, a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was believed to have been playing an instrumental part in supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the conflict.[1]
He was the commander of Iraqi forces in the operation to liberate Jurf Al Sakhar during 2014 Iraqi conflict.[2] As a commander in Popular Mobilization Forces, he has been active in the operations against ISIL. He has been described as "perhaps the most powerful and pro-Iranian" leader in the Popular Mobilization Forces and often met Brett H. McGurk, President Donald J. Trump's US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL.[3] He is fluent in Persian.[4]
In 2011, he accompanied the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on a visit to the White House during Barack Obama's presidency, in his capacity as Secretary of Transportation and also as a foe of (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein.[5][6]
