KSS Mourns the Loss Their Head of Security

On June 21, 2025, an apparent Israeli airstrike killed three Iran-backed militiamen after they crossed from Iraq into Iran. 

The best known of the three was Lebanese terrorist Abu Ali al-Khalil, a bodyguard to the slain Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who died alongside his son, Mahdi al-Khalil. 

The third man was an Iraqi terrorist called Haider al-Musawi, who U.S.-designated terrorist group Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) identified as their head of security at the time of his death (Figure 1). 

Being that the head of security at Iraqi armed groups play an important role in facilitating the covert movements of their own and visiting leaders, Musawi may have been escorting the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters through Iraq and into Iran. 

The commemoration of Haider al-Musawi by the self-styled muqawama (resistance) produced some noteworthy moments that speak to Musawi’s status and also the desperation of Iraqi groups to claim some share of involvement and sacrifice in the recent war, while the reality is that they mostly sat out the conflict.

 His funeral started in front of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Media Directorate in Palestine Street, Baghdad, on June 22 and was stretched out until he was buried in Najaf (as is the custom with muqawama fighters) on June 27. 

Ayatollah Mojtaba al-Hussein, the Iranian Supreme Leader’s representative in Iraq, prayed over his coffin in Najaf (Figure 2). The KSS founder and leader Abu Ala al-Walai (aka Hashim Bunyyan al-Siraji) was one of the pallbearers of Musawi’s coffin (Figure 3). The commemoration was attended by Mohammad Kazem Al-e Sadeq, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq and a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force (Figure 4). The Russian ambassador to Iraq Elbrus Kutrashev also attended the funeral (Figure 5).

Underlining the longstanding KSS ties to Syria, on July 2 the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SNSP), close to both the former Assad regime and Lebanese Hezbollah, lauded the important role that Haider al-Musawi played in military operations in Syria in the past. Militia Spotlight has previously noted, SSNP is a player active since at least December 2024 calling for the formation of “a front to liberate southern Syria”. 

In our view, KSS remains an armed group that deserves close watching. If the IRGC Qods Force were trying to rejuvenate anti-Israel and anti-Syrian government militant cells inside Syria, then KSS would be one of a short list of “go-to” options for assistance. 

KSS may also assist – as was perhaps the case with Abu Ali al-Khalil – in reestablishing land and air transportation routing of persons, materiel or other resources between Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran. 

Based on prior investigations by Militia Spotlight, KSS may also have special territorial responsibilities for Iran-facilitated drone and rocket operations in the areas north of Baghdad and east of the Tigris, which could become important if new drone and rocket attacks were unleashed on U.S. bases in Iraq or on U.S. partners such as the Iraqi Kurds.