[2] On July 18, 2019, United States Vice President Mike Pence announced the imposition of sanctions on al-Kildani on the basis of the Magnitsky Act, acknowledging his ties to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

[9] In 2019, the United States formally sanctioned Rayan, as well as leader of the Shabak Militia Waad Qado, citing human rights violations and his connection to the Popular Mobilization Forces.

Additional reasons for the sanction included systematic looting of villages and selling of agricultural land, blackmailing and harassing women, and preventing internally displaced persons from returning to their homes in the Nineveh Plains.

[13] That same year, in 2021, he was invited to meet with Lebanese president Michel Aoun, emphasizing the role of Christians across West Asia and ensuring demographic returns to Iraq.

[17] Rayan is allied with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Kataeb Hezbollah and an affiliate of the Popular Mobilization Forces, and has previously been seen pictured with him.

[18] He continues to lead the Babylon Brigade alongside his brother, Osama; despite Iraqi government orders to evacuate the Nineveh Plains, Rayan has so far refused to do so.

[21] This caused Sako to leave for Erbil in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, as he called the move "unprecedented in Iraq's history", highlighting "the government's silence" about the incident and the suffering of the Christian community.

[23] Rayan and his movement have been implicated in causing the Bakhdida wedding fire, an incident which he is believed to have taken advantage of in order to instill further influence in the Hamdaniya district.

[24][25] Residents refused to let the Babylon Brigade and Rayan enter the sight of the fire, after which he and Babylon-affiliated member Duraid Jamil Esho threatened to attack a church and cause more violence.