The Babylon Brigade is led by a Christian but is tied to the brutal Iranian-backed Muslim paramilitary Badr Organization.
Huffington Post |052318
WASHINGTON ― A mostly non-Christian militia linked to a brutal Iranian-backed paramilitary group secured two of the five seats in Iraq’s parliament reserved for Christians, according to official election results announced Saturday.
The militia, known as the Babylon Brigade, doesn’t represent Christians at all, local leaders and international advocates for Iraqi Christians warn. They say the militia’s candidates, though Christian, won only because of help from Shiite Muslims. And Iraqi Christians are calling on President Donald Trump to live up to his statements of concern for Middle East Christians by pressuring Iraqi authorities to invalidate the results. But so far, the Trump administration has said nothing on the issue.
Rayan al-Kildani, a Christian associated with various militias, founded the Babylon Brigade in 2014 when ISIS swept through Iraq and began hunting down religious minorities. Al-Kildani brought together 1,000 fighters and soon became the most prominent Christian in the popular mobilization, an umbrella group of Iraqi militias that fought ISIS with U.S. help. Along the way, he forged close ties with the Badr Organization, a historically brutal armed group that receives support from the Shiite leadership of Iran.