Saraya al-Khorasani (Arabic: سرايا طليعة الخراساني, romanized: Sarāya Ṭalīʿa al-Ḵurāsānī "The Vanguard Companies of al-Khorasani"), also known as the 18th Brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces, is a Shia Islamist militia formed in 2013 and engaged in the Second Iraqi Civil War and Syrian Civil War.
The militia was first founded in 1986 as a small organization called the "Al-Karrar Brigade”, which was led by Yassin Al-Moussawi, the representative of Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim.
After the marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein as a part of his campaign against Shia rebels, the group moved to the deserts of Najaf and Karbala.
Although the members of this armed group are Iraqis, its logo is imitated from that of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
[3][4] Hamid Taqavi, known as Abu Mariam, an Arab from Iran, general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is said to have been the first leader or a military adviser to the group.