Anbar Salvation Council

Anbar Salvation Council (Arabic: مجلس إنقاذ الأنبار‎‎ majlis inqadh al-Anbār) is a collection of tribal militias in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, formed by former Ba'athists and nationalists to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq and other associated terrorist groups. In Arabic the council is known as Sahawa Al Anbar, abbreviated SAA when referred to by the US Army. The council has become a model for awakening movements across Iraq, though the Iraqi Defense Ministry has said that it plans to disband the Awakening groups due to concerns about their origins and future intent.

Shortly after the invasion in 2003, Sunni tribal leaders and former Ba'athists, led by members of the Al-Kharbit (Khalifa) and Al-Gaoud (Nimr) families met to select former Ba'ath General Karim Burjis as their unofficial leader and new Governor of Anbar Province. Burjis was later recognized by the coalition, and remained in office until 2004, when he was forced to resign by AQI as a condition to their release of kidnapped family members. This meeting 2003 was the first attempt by Sunni tribal and nationalist leaders to self-organize and re-establish order in Al Anbar. Many of those who participated in this initial meeting fled the country for the safety of the growing ex-pat community in Amman, Jordan to include the paramount sheikhs of the Khalifa and Alwani.

In 2005, tribal leaders again attempted to form a counter-AQI body, and organized the Anbar People's Committee. This should not be confused with the Anbar Peoples Congress - a coalition of tribal leaders residing in Amman, Jordan. The Anbar People's Committee was headed by the paramount sheikh of the Albu Fahad - Sheikh Walid Abd al Karim Mukhlif Fahadawi. He was kidnapped from his home by AQI terrorists dressed as Iraqi Police and murdered. After his murder, and the murder of several other APC leaders by AQI, the APC disbanded. This was the second official attempt at organizing an indigenous anit-AQI movement.

After the murder of Sheikh Walid Fahadawi, an anti-AQI vigilante group known as Thwar-al-Anbar (the Anbar Revolutionaries) was formed by individuals across Anbar to include Hameed al-Haiys Thiyabi, Muhammad al-Haiys Thiyabi, Jabar Fteykhan Rishawi, Aifan Sadoon Issawi, Jassim Muhammad Suwaydawi, as well as others from the Albu Fahad and Albu Bali tribes. The group's core members most likely never exceeded 30 members, yet had a disproportionately high impact in the fight against AQI, and the birth of the Awakening. TAA conducted their own murder and intimidation campaign in an attempt to out-terrorize the terrorists. Their operations resulting in the killing of numerous AQI emirs, and further reinforced the growing hostility toward AQI in Ramadi and Fallujah. TAA never officially disbanded, and those who survived their anti-AQI campaign served as the nucleus of what was to become the Awakening - Sahwah al-Anbar (SAA).

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