The Badr 9th Corps was one of the IRGC units during the Sacred Defense, whose members were Iraqi opponents of Saddam, Iraqi army prisoners of war in Iran, and Iraqi volunteers.

In 1979, the Iraqi Baath Party pressured the active religious movement in that country led by Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer al-Sadr to prevent the occurrence of a revolution like Irans revolution. A number of combatants⁠[1] including Ayatollah Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda were arrested and executed,⁠[2] then a group of these families and those around them fled and migrated to Iran.

With the beginning of the Imposed War, this group decided to fight Saddam alongside Iranian combatants. In 1980, 70 opponents of Saddam, who were called Iraqi Mojahedin, first underwent military training at the Rineh Army Garrison on the southern slopes of Mount Damavand, and then with their number increasing to 85, at the IRGC Vali-e Asr (AJ) Garrison. The IRGC merged this group with 230 other Iraqi Mojahedin who had undergone training at the Shahid Ghayour Asli Garrison in Ahvaz, and formed the Shahid Sadr Company. This company was placed under the command of the Salman Battalion of the 7th Vali-e Asr (AJ) Division of the IRGC on 7 June 1983 and stationed on the defensive line of Zaid Checkpoint (Khuzestan). With subsequent training courses for Iraqi Mojahedin, the Jihad and Shahadat companies were also organized. With the combination of these three companies, on 25 December 1983 the Shahid Sadr Battalion was established under the 7th Vali-e Asr (AJ) Division of the IRGC. Holding eight training courses for Iraqi Mojahedin led to the establishment of the Shahid Beheshti, Shahid Dastgheib and Imam Musa Kazem (PBUH) Battalions. These three battalions were initially under the Imam Jafar Sadeq (PBUH) Brigade of the IRGC, but after the dissolution of this brigade in summer 1984, they were placed under the 35th Imam Hassan (PBUH) Brigade. Before Operation Badr⁠[3] (March 1985) these three battalions were separated from the 35th Imam Hassan (PBUH) Brigade and, with the new name of Shahid Sadr Battalions, were placed under the command of Esmaeil Daghaiqi. This newly established unit, while defending the defensive lines in Hawizeh Marshes, was merged with the 25th Karbala Division (IRGC) in Operation Badr.

In April 1985, the 9th Badr Brigade was established, and Esmaeil Daghaiqi, with the cooperation of a number of official IRGC personnel, organized this brigade. This new brigade was both stationed on the defensive line north of Hawizeh Marshes and participated in the limited operations Quds 4 and Ashura 4. On 10 August 1986, the 9th Badr Brigade was assigned to the Ramadan Headquarters of the IRGC.⁠[4] In this year, the 9th Badr Brigade, in addition to defense on the Surkouh heights in Baneh (Kurdistan) and then the Boubian region in Shalamcheh (Khuzestan), also participated in Karbala 2 and Karbala 5 operations.

In 1987, with the joining of the Hamzeh (PBUH) Brigade and Imam Ali (PBUH) Brigade, the Badr Brigade became the Badr Division; the Hamzeh (PBUH) and Imam Ali (PBUH) Brigades had been organized from among captured Iraqi army prisoners. The 9th Badr Division in this year played an effective role in Nasr 1, Zafar 2, Beit al-Moqaddas 2, Zafar 6, Tariq al-Hussein (PBUH) and Valfajr 10 operations. The competence of the commanders and combatants of the 9th Badr Division caused its organization to be officially upgraded from Division to Corps from April 1988.⁠[5] Then the Quwat Imam Khomeini Brigade (including Iraqi Mojahedin opposing Saddam who were active in Iraqi Kurdistan) joined this new organization, and the newly established 9th Badr Corps began its activity with four combat brigades including the Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shohada (PBUH), Imam Ali (PBUH), Imam Hussein (PBUH), Quwat Imam Khomeini Brigades and one artillery brigade named Malek Ashtar.⁠[6] For training the combatants of the 9th Badr Corps, the Shahid Ghayour Asli Garrison in Ahvaz, Imam Khomeini Garrison in Varamin and Sonqor Training Garrison were placed at the disposal of this Corps, and its headquarters was stationed at Rouhollah Garrison in Konesht Strait north of Taq-e Bostan, Kermanshah.⁠[7]

The forces of the 9th Badr Corps were also present in Beit al-Moqaddas 4 and Mersad operations in 1988.⁠[8] In Operation Mersad, the first organized clash with the forces of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (Monafeqin) was carried out by a battalion of the Badr Corps at Hassanabad Pass, which lasted about three to four hours and caused a delay in the movement of the Monafeqin, giving Iran the opportunity to organize more forces to confront the invaders.⁠[9]

The forces of the 9th Badr Corps, from its establishment as a battalion to its upgrade to a corps, offered 753 martyrs, 780 wounded, 85 missing in action and 2 prisoners of war.⁠[10]

The first commander of the Badr Brigade was Esmaeil Daghaiqi; after his martyrdom in Karbala 5 Operation (1986), for a short time Hassan Danaeifar and then Mohammad-Reza Naqdi held command of this brigade until the end of the Imposed War.⁠[11]

After the end of the Imposed War, under the supervision of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq headed by Hojjat al-Islam Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim (martyr), the Badr Corps continued its activity in Iraqi territory⁠[12] and supported the Shaban Intifada (the uprising of the Iraqi people against Saddam) in 1991.⁠[13] With the beginning of this uprising, part of the cadres of the Supreme Council and forces of the Badr Division were stationed in various regions of Iraq, especially in the cities of Basra, Amara, Diyala and Kut. In northern Iraq and in Sulaymaniyah Province also, Badr Division personnel, in cooperation with Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, formed the Al-Mustafa Brigade with 1,500 personnel. With the suppression of this uprising by Saddam, the Badr Division lost many personnel. This Corps in 2001 and 2002 attacked Saddams presidential palace four times.⁠[14]

Simultaneously with the attack of the United States and its allies from southern Iraq (2003) against Saddams regime, the Badr Corps acted against Saddam in Diyala (a city on the Iranian border)⁠[15] and after the overthrow of the Baath Party in Iraq played an effective role.⁠[16]

After the fall of Saddam, presence and participation in the political structure of Iraq became the main goal of the Badr Organization (the political wing of the Badr Corps) and due to the end of military activity, the Badr Corps pursued political and civil activities.⁠[17] In 2014, during the presence of ISIS in Iraq,⁠[18] the Badr Corps was the main body of Hashd al-Shabi (Popular Mobilization) against ISIS, and after the order of Nouri al-Maliki (Prime Minister of Iraq) to form Popular Mobilization Forces and the fatwa of Ayatollah Sistani and other religious authorities of Iraq for popular armed defense, the military branch of the Badr Corps, in coordination with other groups, was present in the battle and liberation of areas of Iraq such as Amerli, Tikrit, Fallujah, Mosul and Kirkuk from ISIS.⁠[19]

After the Imposed War, the Badr Corps has been administered by Iraqi forces;⁠[20] Adnan Ibrahim known as Abu Ali Basri (1988-2001), Jamal Jafar known as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (martyr) in 2002, and Hadi al-Ameri, from 2002 until now, have held the leadership of this group.⁠[21]