Terror organization: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS).

Status: Leader of the terror organization.

Role: Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (The Battalions of the Master of Martyrs) is officially the 14th Brigade, is a radical Iraqi Shia militia formed in 2013. Its stated mission is to protect “(Shia) shrines across the globe”, preserve “Iraqi unity” and to “put an end to the sectarian conflict”. KSS is funded, trained and equipped by IRGC’s Quds Force and Hezbollah.

The group has been described as an Iranian proxy, and is one of the original militias that formed the Popular Mobilization Forces in 2014. The group has close ties to Badr Organization and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He is pro Assad regime and maintains good relations with the Houthis.

Before the establishment of KSS, he was an operative in Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH). During his terror activity in KH he was detained and spent time in US prison. Released in 2010 and in 2013 became the leader of KSS.
He support aggressive methods against the enemy of the Shiite coalition.

Location: Iraq;

Also Known As: Abu Alaa al-Walae; a.k.a. AL-SARAJI, Hashim Banyan Finyan Rahim; a.k.a. AL-SARAYJI, Ali Abd-al-Zahra Hafiz; a.k.a. UL AWLIYA, Hashim Banyan; a.k.a. “AL WALAI, Abu Ala”;

Country: Baghdad, Iraq; Lebanon;

DOB: 01 Jul 1966;

POB: Baghdad, Iraq;

Nationality: Iraq;

Activities:

The Department of State is today designating Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) and its Secretary General Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. KSS terrorist activity has threatened the lives of both U.S. and Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS personnel in Iraq and Syria.

Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji, also known as Abu Waala al Wa’eli or Walai, is the U.S.-designated secretary-general of Kata’ib Sayyid al Shuhada (KSS), an Iraqi militia supported by and ideologically aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Wa’eli has previously announced his support of the Houthi movement and has stated in the past that KSS is a faction of the terror group.* Given KSS’s activities in advancing Iran’s interests in the region and their ongoing campaign against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. Department of State designated Wa’eli as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on November 17, 2023.

Before joining KSS, Wa’eli was a member of Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH), a U.S.-designated anti-American Shiite militia operating in Iraq with ancillary operations in Syria.* His militant activities as a KH member reportedly led to his incarceration in a U.S. prison until he was released in 2010. At the outset of Syria’s civil war in the early 2010s, KH members from the militia’s Abu Hussein and Abu Fadak wings went on to form KSS, with Wa’eli joining their ranks.

KSS expanded its presence in Iraq after ISIS swept through the country in 2014.* The Iraqi militia currently operates as a member of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), designated as Brigade 14.* The Iraqi government created the PMF in June 2014 to unite various Shiite forces in the country in the fight against ISIS.* KSS works closely with other pro-Iran PMF units and its commanders have met personally with Qasem Soleimani, the deceased commander of the Quds Force, the elite IRGC military unit that coordinates Iran’s support to its foreign terrorist proxies.* KSS receives funds from the Iraqi government as well as directly from the IRGC-QF.* KSS supports the IRGC-QF’s affiliate network as well, with Wa’eli claiming in 2018 that his militia would send his men to Yemen to fight alongside the Iran-backed Houthis against the Saudi-led coalition.*