Ali Jayad al-Salhi: From sniper to saint, showing Iraqi Shiite militias’ power

Al-Salhi is a powerful symbol in the religious, near messianic mystique that has grown up around Iraq's Shiite militias in tandem with their increasing political and military might after they helped defeat the Islamic State group.

By: AP | Basra | Published: December 30, 2017 5:16 pm

In this Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017 photo, a man sits among awards, certificates of appreciation and posters belonging to the sniper Ali Jayad al-Salhi, 65, a volunteer with Popular Mobilization Forces killed fighting Islamic State militants, in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. In his martyrdom, he has virtually become a new saint for Iraq’s Shiites. His poster adorns shop windows, men and women wear his image as badges. Poems praise his valor. His sniper’s rifle, with which he’s said to have killed nearly 400 Islamic State group militants, is now enshrined in a museum in the holiest Shiite city. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

In his martyrdom, he has virtually become a new saint for Iraq’s Shiites. His poster adorns shop windows, men and women wear his image as badges. Poems praise his valor. His sniper’s rifle, with which he’s said to have killed nearly 400 Islamic State group militants, is now enshrined in a museum in the holiest Shiite city. Ali Jayad al-Salhi, an expert sniper in his early 60s and veteran of multiple wars, was killed in September in clashes with IS in northern Iraq. He then was vaulted into legend. Shiites around Iraq trade stories of how, out of piety, he left his home, wife, 10 children and 20 grandchildren to join a Shiite militia to fight in what he saw as a war between humanity and evil.