Hashd al-Shaabi / Hashd Shaabi
Popular Mobilisation Units /
People’s Mobilization Forces

In a regular army, a brigade is a military unit consisting of 2 to 5 battalions and its number of members ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 individuals. The nearly 70 larger Hashd groups have brigade numbers on the Hashd commission, and the two dozen or so smaller Hashd groups generally are designated regiments [with or without numbers] and are often called 'tribal Hashd' but are on the registers of the Hashd commission. On 19 November 2018, the Iraqi government began working to increase the salaries of the Popular Mobilization Forces and make them equal to those in the security forces.

There are no official data about the strength of the Popular Mobilization Forces. By one account the organization is composed of nearly 70 armed factions, with around 230,000 fighters. Other sources provide estimates as of 2022 of 100,000 to 120,000, while the IISS proposes 189,000 for that year. Assuming 70 "brigades" of 2,500 combatants, the total strength would be 175,000. These are mostly Shia Muslim groups, but also include Sunni Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi groups. According to The Economist, as of late April 2016 the Hashd had approximately 16,000 Sunnis. The Turkmen Hashd overall constitute around four thousand members.

One comprehensive account relaes that the Mobilization Forces, whether combatants or otherwise, include about 25,000 Sunni fighters. As for the rest of its formations, several factions, including the Badr Organization, contribute about 22,000 fighters, while the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades contribute more than 5,000 fighters. The number of “Saraya Al-Salam” soldiers is about 7,000 soldiers, while “Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq” contributes about 8,000 of fighters. According to statistics from the Policy Making Center, the Shiite component represents 85% of the members of the Popular Mobilization Forces and 15% of the Sunni component. As for the leadership level, the Shiite component controls it by 100%. They were formed after the fatwa of sufficient jihad launched by the religious authority in Najaf Governorate , after the control of the Islamic State. (ISIS) over large areas in a number of governorates north of Baghdad, and the Popular Mobilization Authority law was approved after the Iraqi House of Representatives voted by a majority in favor of the law on November 26, 2016.

According to Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi who really seems to know whereof he speaks, "some groups claim affiliation with the Hashd Sha'abi Commission (and thus entitlement to salaries and other benefits from the government) but do not yet seem to have a known brigade ordinal number.... Other groups make clear that they are not affiliated with the Hashd Sha'abi Commission at all... the significance of each faction must be properly appreciated in the bigger picture. Otherwise, we risk getting lost in a mass of data.... insignificant/imaginary Hashd forces that exploit the Hashd phenomenon and have no important roles in battles. And yet, these groups have offices and their leaders are supposedly registered with the Hashd Sha'abi Commission, merely for the purpose of collecting money and salaries.... most notably features Jaysh al-Mukhtar of Wathiq al-Battat, renowned for his bombastic rhetoric. Indeed, his group is accorded far too much analytical attention in a September 2017 Atlantic Council report."

There are politicians who are trying to advance the PMF , and some of them are the founders of fake factions that have no role on the ground, and have not been heard of in battle, but they exist, they have offices, and their leaders are registered with the PMF , with salaries and paid expenses. There are at least 40 politicians and 36 fake factions that do not exist on the ground, their presence is only in offices and allotments.)