Saqib Haider Karbalai
Saqib Haider Karbalai | |
|---|---|
| Native name | ثاقب حیدر کربلائی |
| Nickname(s) | Haj Haider |
| Born | Parachinar, Kurram district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan |
| Disappeared | 2017 Hama, Western Syria |
| Died | 2017 Syria |
| Cause of death | Killed in a beheading execution by the Islamic State |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  Islamic Republic of Iran (IRGC) |
| Branch | Infantry Commander |
| Years of service | Early 2000s–2017 |
| Rank | Commander-In-Chief |
| Unit |
|
| Commands |
|
| Known for | Known for being the founder and first commander-in-chief of Liwa Zainebiyoun |
| Battles / wars | |
| Children | Taskin Zainab (daughter)[5] |
Saqib Haider Karbalai (Arabic: ثاقب حيدر الكربلائي, romanized: Saqab Haydar al-Karbilayiy, Persian: ثاقب حیدر کربلایی, romanized: Saqhab Heydar Karbolayi, Urdu: ثاقب حیدر کربلائی, romanized: Saaqb Haydar Karbali), also known as also known by the Arabic-language nickname 'Haj Haider' (Arabic: الحاج حيدر, romanized: al-Haju Haydar) in Syria, was a religious Shia Muslim Pakistani Pashtun from Parachinar and a senior member of the militant groups Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, and Liwa Zainebiyoun, the first two being Shia Islamist religio-political organizations in Pakistan.
Early life
[edit]He was well known for his Anti-America and Anti-Zionist views and speeches in his hometown. He had strong ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and was a strong supporter of Wilayat al Faqih including Khomeinism.[6]
An IRGC-affiliated source's claimed that the Haj Haider went Iran, Iraq and Syria multiple times for Ziyarat of Shia holy sites in 2000s where he met many IRGC officers and had established close ties with them by the beginning of the Syrian civil war.[6]
Haider had also tried to peruse a life and a job in the UAE before quitting and going to Syria.[5][7]
Role in the Sectarian violence in Pakistan
[edit]The initial core of Liwa Zainebiyoun constituted of former members and fighters of Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan and Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, the former being a Shia Islamist political party and the ladder being a Shia Islamist armed organization in Pakistan, both of which fought in the Sectarian violence in Pakistan, against the Anti-Shia sectarian leadership of the banned terrorist groups Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.[8][9]
Both of these groups had strong presence in Shia communities of Pakistan and were headquartered in Thokar Niaz Beg, the Shia majority town of Lahore, where they ran a "virtual state within a state" in the 1990s until the collapse of their presence there by 2007 or 2010.[9]
During this time, Haider had served as both a commander in Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan and Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan.[6] According to some sources, Haider got involved in the sectarian violence when he was only 13 year's old[5][7] as tensions grew between the Shiites and Sunnis due to presence of Taliban, al-Qaeda and Haqqani network militias in his hometown Khurram commanded by the notorious Fazal Saeed Haqqani who is known for his bloody ambushes against Shia community of Kurram Agency.[10] Some sources claimed that the Haider also fought directly against Pakistani Taliban, Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi based Anti-Shia extremists in the Kurram Agency War April 2007, He commanded local Shia Turi Tribal fighters and killed many extremists.[11]
Service in Syria
[edit]Later around 2012 or 2013 the former members of Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan and Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (including Haider) joined and fought as part of the Shia Syrian Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas brigade and later the Shia Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigade during the early years of the Syrian civil war, before forming the Zainebiyoun Brigade as a Shia Pakistani volunteer group, which was formed soon after the Fatemiyoun Brigade, under the orders of IRGC-QF.[8]
The IRGC appointed Haider and Shia Afghan Ali Reza Tavassoli as Chief Commanders of the Zainebiyoun and Fatemiyoun Brigades respectively, mainly appointed by Qasem Soleimani, the erstwhile Iranian commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, as the commanders of Shia volunteer fighters from Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively, with training and funding from Iran to defend the Shia holy shrines from ISIL and it's subgroups in Syria and to a lesser extent, Iraq. They both served as the commanders of their respective Brigades until their deaths.[6]
Disappearance, death, and burial
[edit]In 2017, Saqib Haider Karbalai went missing while fighting alongside Syrian government forces during the Hama offensive (March–April 2017). The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported his death in 2019, claiming that the body of Haider was transferred to Tehran two years after he was killed in the Syrian city of Hama by ISIS terrorists.[6]
According to Tasnim News Agency, the identity of the commander of the Zainabiyoun Brigade was identified after a DNA test, and he was transferred to Tehran where he was to be buried. The news agency also reported that "his body has no head and no arms" and that he was killed in action in April 2017 in the Tal Turabi area in the Hama Governorate, during the offensive.[6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Amir Toumaj (9 December 2016). "Array of pro-Syrian government forces advances in Aleppo". Long War Journal. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ Says, Motorhead (28 October 2016). "IRGC commander killed on eve of Aleppo battle | FDD's Long War Journal". www.longwarjournal.org.
- ^ "Array of pro-Syrian government forces advances in Aleppo | FDD's Long War Journal". www.longwarjournal.org. 9 December 2016.
- ^ Tomson, Chris (2 March 2017). "Islamic State retreats from Palmyra amid stunning Syrian Army offensive". al-Masdar News. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
- ^ a b c "شهیدی که حقوق 10میلیونی در امارات را رها کرد + عکس". مشرق نیوز (in Persian). 2017-12-03. Retrieved 2025-07-30. [A martyr who gave up a salary of 10 million in the UAE + photo] (in Persian)
- ^ a b c d e f "التعرف على جثة امر لواء زينبيون الايراني الذي قتل في سوريا بنيران داعش الارهابي قبل عامين" [Identification of the body of the order of the Iranian Zainabiyoun Brigade, who was killed in Syria by ISIS terrorist fire two years ago]. IraqNewspaper.net (in Arabic). 12 June 2019.
- ^ a b "چهارمین کتاب از لشکر زینبیون منتشر شد". fa (in Persian). Retrieved 2025-07-30.
- ^ a b Daily Times.com Vengeance, frictions reviving LJ and Sipah-e-Muhammad. 7 April 2015|
- ^ a b Ravinder Kaur (5 November 2005). Religion, Violence and Political Mobilisation in South Asia. SAGE Publications. pp. 154–. ISBN 978-0-7619-3431-8.
- ^ Khattak, Daud (1 July 2011). "The Significance of Fazal Saeed's Defection from the Pakistani Taliban". Combating Terrorism Center. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
- ^ "The Pakistani tribe that is taking on the Taliban". BBC. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2017.