The Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) was an Iraqi-sponsored alliance of 40 Shi'ite militias formed on 15 June 2014 for deployment against the Islamic State during the Iraqi Civil War. With as many as 120,000 fighters, it had roughly the same troop strength as ISIS, composed of Shi'ite Iraqis from several former Special Groups such as Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Badr Organization, and Promised Day Brigades. Falih al-Fayyadh served as the PMU's chairman, while Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis served as vice-chairman. The Popular Mobilization Units assisted the Iraqi Army in its offensives to liberate major cities from the Islamic State, including the 2015 recapture of Tikrit and the 2016 Operation Breaking Terrorism offensive against Fallujah. The PMU were often left behind as garrisons for the cities as the Iraqi Army spearheaded the main offensives, as they were militia and not professional soldiers. Many of them were inspired to join the PMU by fatwas issued by Iranian Shia clerics. In December 2016 the Iraqi Parliament adopted a law that formally made the PMU a sort of "national guard" of Iraq and placed under the supreme commander's authority as a branch of the armed forces, similarly to the regular army.
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