SUMMARY
SCIRI (the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq) was an armed group fighting the Iraqi government intermittently between 1982 and 1996. Also known as the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq or the Majlis, it was renamed the Islamic Supreme Council in Iraq in 2007.
SCIRI was the main Shia Opposition coalition in Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein. It was founded on 17 November 1982 by several exiled Shia clerics in Iran including Ayatollah Sayed Mohamad Baqir Al-Hakim, who was the leader and part of the largest faction in the coalition, the Marjeeya. Other major member-groups included factions such as al-Dawa, the Movement of the Iraqi Mujahideen, the Islamic Movement in Iraq and the Islamic Action Organization. Some groups later distanced themselves from SCIRI, especially because of its strong Iranian connections, including the al-Dawa group.
Based in Iran, the goal for SCIRI was to remove the Baathist regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and replace it with an Iranian-style, theocratic government based on sharia law. In pursuit of this, the Badr Brigade (later Badr Corp but renamed the Badr Organization of Reconstruction and Development in 2003 and often shortened to Badr Organization), was formed as the official military wing of SCIRI in 1983. SCIRI quickly attracted other exiles and its military wing consisted of Iraqi Shias originally captured by Iran during the interstate conflict (see Government of Iran – Government of Iraq, Iraqi military defectors and Shia Iraqis, who the Government of Iraq had been implementing mass expulsions of since 1969 under the leadership of Saddam Hussein. It carried out its campaign against the Saddam Hussein Government of Iraq by establishing "secret resistance cells inside Iraq" to gather intelligence and mobilizing Iraqi exiles. Following the end of the conflict between the Governments of Iraq and Kuwait, SCIRI capitalized on the post-conflict context to mount a large uprising against the Government of Iraq on 1 March 1991. Despite an offer to negotiate on a power sharing arrangement presented by the Shia Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Sadoun Hammadi, SCIRI rejected the offer. Subsequently, the rebellion was harshly suppressed and ended by April with SCIRI incurring major losses as well as desertions.
SCIRI founded the umbrella organization, the Joint Action Committee of the Iraqi Opposition (JACIO) in 1990, which evolved into the Iraqi National Congress (INC) in 1992. Through these, groups opposed to the Government of Iraq under the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein were able to unite, which enabled SCIRI to strategically diversify its connections and maintain a Shia presence in the wider Iraq-based opposition. Within the umbrella organization of the INC, SCIRI was allied with secular and Kurdish groups including the PUK and KDP. However, the unity of the INC dissipated after conflict between PUK and KDP broke out; SCIRI soon left the group sometime after 1999, along with several other members. It formed an alternative umbrella opposition group called the Group of Four with the Iraqi National Accord, PUK and KDP in 2001. Functioning as the main platform for negotiations with the Government of the USA, this became the Group of Six after the remaining members of the INC and the Constitutional Monarchy Movement joined in August 2002.
During the Australian, UK and USA coalition conflict in Iraq in 2003, SCIRI carried out minimal activity especially compared to their Kurdish opposition counterparts. This was partly due to warnings from the Government of the USA that Iranian, including SCIRI, involvement in the conflict would be treated as hostile, as well as caution due to the 1991 attempted uprising, when foreign governments failed to intervene as expected to support SCIRI actions against the Government of Iraq.
Nonetheless, SCIRI was represented when a coalition-backed interim government was installed in 2003, with several members taking up positions. However, resentment for SCIRI as a group that operated in exile rather than remaining in Iraq as well as for its backing from the Government of Iran remained and SCIRI leader, Ayatollah Sayed Mohamad Baqir Al-Hakim, was assassinated in 2003. He was replaced by his brother Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. To acknowledge that the Saddam Hussein regime had been removed and the revolution was over, as well as distance itself from its connections with the Government of Iran and increase popular support for the group amongst resident Iraqis, SCIRI rebranded itself as the Islamic Supreme Council in Iraq in May 2007. Since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, SCIRI has transitioned into a political party, competing in Iraqi elections from 2005 onward.
SCIRI’s military wing, the Badr Brigade had two battalions of approximately 7000 troops until 1992, when it was estimated to have narrowed to one battalion of between 2000 and 4000 troops as a result of battles with the Government of Iraq in 1991. Its military structure consisted of infantry, artillery, commando and anti-aircraft units. In 2003, the Badr Brigade was renamed “Badr Organization of Reconstruction and Development” to appear less militant and appease demands from the Government of the USA that SCIRI disband its military wing. However, its military activities continued, including skirmishes with rival Shia Iraqi group, the al-Mahdi Army.
After SCIRI distanced itself from Iran, the Badr Brigade officially split from SCIRI in 2012 to maintain its Iranian connections. The Iraqi Islamic Forces Union, led by Abu-Haydar al-Asadi, also formed a splinter group from SCIRI when it was suspected that SCIRI would ally with the Government of the USA in 2002.
Since its formation in 1982, SCIRI has received substantial support from the Government of Iran. The organization remained based in Tehran until 2003, and also received weaponry, training, and financial support from the Iranian government. Although the Badr Brigade was the military wing of SCIRI, it was strongly considered a proxy force of Iran. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard, commanded the group and provided it with weapons and training.
Despite its strong connections with the Government of Iran and previously hostile views of the group, the Government of the USA offered to fund SCIRI military activity through the INC in 1998, after the Iraq Liberation Act was passed in the USA. However, SCIRI refused this offer but accepted roles in political groups backed by the Government of the USA: the Iraqi interim government as well as the earlier precursor of this, the Follow-Up and Arrangement Committee.
After 1990, SCIRI also built connections with the West by establishing several representative offices abroad including in Paris, London, Bonn, Bern and Vienna.
The al-Hakim clerical dynasty provided the prevailing leaders of SCIRI, although technically SCIRI was controlled by a shared leadership. Accordingly, Ayatollah Sayed Mohamad Baqir Al-Hakim was the principal leader of SCIRI from its inception until his assassination by car bomb whilst in Najaf, Iraq on 29 August 2003. Prior to SCIRI, Baqir al-Hakim had been part of the Shia al-Dawa political faction in Iraq before seeking exile in Iran and becoming an important founder of SCIRI. After the assassination, brother, fellow founder and military leader of the Badr Brigade, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim led the organization until his death on 26 August 2009. Subsequently, leadership of SCIRI was entrusted to and remains with his son, Ammar al-Hakim, as of 2017.
In the US-backed Iraqi Interim Governing Council, several members of SCIRI held posts including Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Mohammad Jassem Khodayyir, who became Immigration Minister, Bayan Baqer Sulagh became Minister of Reconstruction and Housing and Ali Faek al-Ghadban, an affiliate of SCIRI, became Youth and Sports Minister.
Other notable members of SCIRI included Ibrahim Hammudi, political advisor to Baqir Al-Hakim, Muhammad a-Haydari, who was head of the SCIRI political bureau whilst internationally posted members included Bayan Jabr in Damascus and Hamid al-Bayati in London.
