Rayan Salem Sadiq Al-Kildani (Arabic:ريان سالم صادق الكلداني) or Rayan al-Kildani (Arabic: ريان الكلداني English : Rayan the Chaldean) is a Christian politician in Iraq, general secretary of the Babylon Movement, leader of one of the former factions of the Popular Mobilization Forces called the Babylon Brigades, which Rayan founded in the Nineveh Governorate, specifically in the Nineveh Plain of northern Iraq, in 2014, after the occupation of ISIL.[1]

On July 18 2019, the US vice president announced the imposition of sanctions. on the leader of the Babylon movement, Rayan Al-Kildani, on the basis of the Magnitsky Act, which provides for the imposition of sanctions on perpetrators of human rights violations throughout the world, and the vice president declared that “Rayan Al-Kildani, the leader of the Babylon Movement, the Babylonian militia and close to Qassem Soleimani, is included in the sanctions”.[2][3]

Biography

Rayyan was born in the town of Alqosh in Nineveh Governorate, in 1989, then he moved to Baghdad and settled there. Rayan founded the Babylon Brigades in 2014 after ISIL occupied large areas of Nineveh Governorate. In 2015, the brigade, with around 1,000 men, is the only Christian military brigade within the Hachd al-Chaabi, whose militias are predominantly Shiite militias.[4] Kildani presented his movement as fighting for the existence of his once-important community.[5]

In 2021, his political party obtained 4 of the 5 seats reserved for Iraqi Christians out of the 329 seats in the Iraqi Parliament.

In 2022, he discussed with the Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani on the future of Iraq. He was also received by Massoud Barzani.[6]

Al-Kildani is an allied by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Kataeb Hezbollah and leader of PMF.[7]

Relationship with the clergy

Al-Kildani and members of the Babylon Movement are Chaldean Catholics, but reportedly have stormy relations with the Chaldean clergy, in part because the clergy reject any armed movement in the Christian community. Louis Raphaël Sako condemned Rayan al-Kildani as a militia leader who does not represent the interests of Christians, publicly dissociating the Church from the group.[7] In March 2016, the Chaldean Patriarchate announced that it had no connection with the "Babylon Brigades" or its leader, Rayan Al-Kildani, that it did not represent it and that its official representatives were only members of Parliament Iraqi. Al-Kildani is in conflict with Patriarch of Baghdad Louis Raphaël I Sako.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "The Christian militia fighting IS". BBC.com. April 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ "U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Iraqi Militia Leaders and Ex-Governors". nytimes.com.
  3. ↑ "U.S. imposes sanctions on four Iraqis over human rights and corruption". reuters.com. July 18, 2019.
  4. ↑ "In Iraq, Christian Militia Battles Islamic State Militants: 'ISIS Terrorists Are Our Enemy'". ibtimes. 2015-07-13.
  5. ↑ "Interview: Babylon Movement elbows out Iraq's established Christian parties". amwaj. 19 November 2021.
  6. ↑ "PM Barzani and Rayan Al-Kildani discuss efforts to form the new Iraqi government". kurdistan24. 27 February 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Qui est la Brigade de Babylone, cette milice " chrétienne " pro-iranienne en Irak ?". L'Orient le jour (in French). 20 July 2023.
  8. ↑ "A feud between a patriarch and a militia leader adds to the woes of Iraqi Christians". abcnews. 4 August 2023.
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