Inspired by the Fathi Shaqaqi’s works on Islamic Revolution in 1979, the earliest form of the group can be traced back to 2010 as a reformist movement in Gaza calling for a revolution inspired by the Iranian Revolution. While Hamas supported the Syrian rebellion, the Sabireen Movement has praised Iran's involvement as well as Hezbollah's, the group has sent condolences to Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria as well as by Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah, and has called on the residents of the Yarmouk Camp to fight ISIL's presence in the suburb. The group has also condemned the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen with Salim calling it "an attack on the Yemeni people". After leaving Palestinian Islamic Jihad and converting to Shiism, Salim has called on his followers to do the same and convert and has also encouraged followers who have already become Shia to proselytize in the Gaza Strip. According to the State Departmentin September 2015 the group fired rockets into Israeli territory, and in January 2016 Salim announced the group had expanded into the West Bank by establishing cells there, the next month in response to the announcement the Palestinian Authority arrested five men in Bethlehem as part of a cell belonging to the group. In 2015, Hamas called for the dissolution of the group with Hamas claiming “Sabireen's involvement was against the people of Gaza”, Hamas has also interrogated individuals affiliated with the Sabireen Movement. In October 2015, Ahmed Shariff al-Sarhi a high ranking commander in the group was killed by IDF snipers near the Gaza-Israeli border, he had conducted several shootings targeting Israel, when he was killed he was using a Steyr HS.50 anti-material rifle, which is also used by the Iranian armed forces, Iraqi Shiite militias, and Syrian military. In early 2018 the Trump administration designated the group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization under an executive order. A Washington DC based think tank called The Washington Institute for Near East Policy asserted that the group's formation could be a bid by Iran to replace Hamas as a proxy with Sabireen given Hamas' stance on Syria and the religious divide between the two.
Ideology
Upon creation, the movement did not introduced itself as a Shiite movement. Its secretary general says it does not represent a certain sect, stressing that sectarianism only serves the enemies' best interests. He also denies that the movement only consists of Shiites and does not accept Sunni members. In January 2016, Hisham Salim, founder of the Harakat al-Sabireen, told the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency that the group, like Hezbollah, is directly funded by the Iranian government, but stressed that his group was non-sectarian, non-religious and certainly not a "Shiite movement."
