Editing Ahmed al-Hasan (section)

=== Battle of Najaf ===
Shortly after the January 2007 [[Battle of Najaf (2007)|Battle of Najaf]], conflicting reports and news coverage emerged as to who exactly was involved in the clashes. The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' and RFERL identified the leader of the Soldiers of Heaven group as [[Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim]], who was killed in the clashes.<ref name="7 la times">{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-31-fg-village31-story.html | title = Cult had dug in for huge battle |newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date = 31 January 2007 | access-date = 19 May 2012 | first1=Saad |last1=Fakhrildeen |first2=Borzou |last2=Daragahi}}</ref><ref name="rferl">{{Cite news |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1074465.html | title = Iraq: Al-Najaf Mystery Reflects Iraqi Divisions | date = 2 February 2007 | access-date = 21 May 2012 | work = RFERL free press}}</ref> However, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that Iraqi officials at a press conference had named the group that was involved in the clashes as [[Soldiers of Heaven]] (''Jund al-Samaa’''), but offered several names for the group's leader, including Ahmad Ismail and Diyah Abdul Zahraa Khadom. The ''Times'' article also reported that Diyah Abdul Zahraa Khadom was the same person as Ahmed al-Hasan al-Yamani, and whose alleged role was deputy of the group, not the leader.<ref name="NY times">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/world/middleeast/01iraq.html?_r=3 | title = Mystery Arises Over Identity of Militia Chief in Najaf Fight| date = 1 February 2007 | access-date = 19 May 2012 | first = Damien |last=Cave |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

Timothy Furnish of mahdiwatch.org wrote, "Security officials say that Ansar Ahmed [al-Hasan] al-Yamani and the Jund al-Samaa [Soldiers of Heaven] are one and the same, while National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waili denies any relation between the two [groups]."<ref name="Mahdiwatch 2/2">{{Cite web |url=http://www.mahdiwatch.org/2008.02.01_arch.html#1201988991880 | title = Dr. Timothy Furnish reporting on Battle of Najaf | date = 2 February 2008 | access-date = 19 May 2012 | work = mahdiwatch.org | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414081649/http://www.mahdiwatch.org/2008.02.01_arch.html#1201988991880 | archive-date = 14 April 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref>{{Unreliable fringe source|date=May 2015}}

Sheikh Saadiq al-Hasnawi, who is a teacher in the Scientific Hawza of Honorable Najaf says, "This movement (Soldiers of Heaven), we have never heard about it before, and we used to guess that the leader of it is Sayed Ahmad al-Yamani, and they told me about the book Qathi al-Sama which was spread around in multitudes and by anonymous people, and when I read the content of the book I was shocked in its strange ideas completely, over the method of Ahmad al-Hasan al-Yamani."<ref name="Akhbaar">{{Cite web |url=http://www.akhbaar.org/home/2007/02/24518.html | title = Sheikh al-Hasnawi on Soldiers of Heaven | date = 1 February 2007 | access-date = 10 January 2018 | work=akhbaar.org}}</ref>

Sayyed Hasan bin Muhammad Ali al-Hamami (son of the late Marja Sayed Muhammad Ali Musawi al-Hamami) states that Soldiers of Heaven was led by Dhiyaa' [Abdul-Zahra] Al-Qara'wi, who had rejected the 12 Imams of Shia Islam, had claimed to be the 12th Imam Mahdi himself, and had later died in the battle.<ref name="8 hamami">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfePFfJ0POA  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/MfePFfJ0POA |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live| title = Interview with the son of the late Marja Sayed Muhammad Ali Musawi Alhammamy |date=2 February 2012 | access-date = 19 May 2012 | publisher = Ansar Imam Mahdi |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Ahmed al-Hasan himself and representatives of his group Ansar of Imam al-Mahdi have denied any involvement in these clashes, and claim they have no links to the group Soldiers of Heaven.<ref name="historiae.org">{{Cite web | url = http://www.historiae.org/mahdism.asp | title = Analysis of what happened in the Battle of Najaf | date = 13 March 2008 | access-date = 30 July 2012 | publisher = Dr. Reidar Visser | archive-date = 31 January 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130131025212/http://www.historiae.org/mahdism.asp | url-status = dead }}</ref>