| Liwa al-Tafuf | |
| Native Name: | لواء الطفوف |
| Native Name Lang: | ar |
| Founding Leader: | Qasim Muslih |
| Active: | 2014-Present |
| Split From: | Liwa Ali al-Akbar |
| Allegiance: | Popular Mobilization Forces |
| Ideology: |
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| Status: | active |
| Allies: | |
| Opponents: | |
Liwa al-Tafuf also known as the 13th PMF Brigade is a brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq which split from Liwa Ali al-Akbar in 2014 and was associated with the Imam Husayn Shrine and has participated in the War in Iraq, mostly against the Islamic State, which includes the recapturing of al-Ba'aj and the Battle of Al-Qa'im in 2017.[1]
The group was established in 2014 after splitting from the 11th PMF Briagde, Liwa Ali al-Akbar under the guise of Qasim Muslih as the leader of the brigade and tried to remain "legitimate" as a "true" atabat (shrine) but the group fell into the administrative influence of Kata'ib Hezbollah's founder, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The group became well-known for taking old armored vehicles from old tanks graveyards and returning them, with ingenious new modifications, to service.[2]
The group has allied with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and answers to the group with Kata'ib Hezbollah.[3] Though the group is considered pro-Iranian, it doesn't view itself as full allies with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and has built a better relationship with the local Sunni Muslim populations in Iraq than most of the other PMF Brigades and pro-Iranian militias.[4] [5]
The group has helped smuggled Iranian goods and commerce with Kata'ib Hezbollah, where both basically control it, in the al-Qaim–al-Bukamal border crossing to Syria which was supposedly used to help others battle the Islamic State in Syria during the Syrian civil war.[6] Though some of the goods are supplies to groups, Liwa al-Tafuf and other groups help enable the cross-border drug trade with Iraq and Syria.[7]