Qais Khazali

On 3 January 2020, U.S. designated Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq as foreign terrorist organization, with Qais al-Khazali and his brother Laith al-Khazali as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

In December 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Khazali for "involvement in serious human rights abuse in Iraq."

On 31 December 2019, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named Khazali, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Hadi al-Amiri, and Falih Alfayyadh, as responsible for the attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad.

Khazali was released in January 2010, in exchange for the release of Peter Moore, who had been kidnapped by Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq. In December that year, notorious special groups commanders Abu Deraa and Mustafa al-Sheibani were allowed to return to Iraq and declared they would be working with Khazali after their return.

Qais Hadi Sayed Hasan al-Khazali (Arabic: قيس هادي سيد حسن الخزعلي ‎; born 1974) is best known as the founder and leader of the Special Groups in Iraq from June 2006 until his capture by British forces in March 2007. As head of the Special Groups, Khazali directed arms smuggling, formation of death squads to participate in sectarian violence, kidnappings, and assassinations, most notably the 20 January 2007 attack on American forces in Karbala. A former follower of Muqtada al-Sadr, he was expelled from the Mahdi Army in 2004 for giving "unauthorized orders" and founded his own group: Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) also known as the "Khazali network". During his incarceration Akram al-Kabi became acting commander of the organisation until his release.

On the night of 20 March 2007 G squadron of the British SAS raided a house in Basra containing Khazali and arrested him along with his brother and his Lebanese advisor without casualties and gained valuable intelligence.