#Hizbollah
By Christa Wägemann Since the crushing fall of Mosul in northern Iraq to ISIS in June 2014, Shi’a militias, with the aid of neighboring Iran, have come to play the leading role in the battle for Iraq. Though this is not a new phenomenon, militias in Iraq have made considerable strides cementing themselves as a political instrument to gain power and legitimacy. In 2014, the Iraqi religious Shi’a leader Ayatollah Sistani pronounced a fatwa (religious ruling) for Iraqis to defend…
