ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia has said it had no role" in recent rocket attacks in Iraq, a top official told Reuters on Tuesday.
"We absolutely did not target Erbil or the Green Zone and have no knowledge of the group that did," said Kataib Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammed Mohi.
The group rarely comments on rocket attacks that are often attributed to Iran-backed militias looking to target US and foreign diplomatic and military installations in the country.
Several rockets were fired at Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to foreign missions, including the US embassy, on Monday night. It followed a similar attack on Balad Air Base on Sunday, injuring one contractor, and a rocket attack on Erbil on February 15, which left two people dead and thirteen people injured.
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr spoke out against the attacks, claiming that they "weaken" the Iraqi resistance in the eyes of the people.
The US State Department said on Monday that it would "hold Iran responsible" for the attacks.
In recent months, several seemingly newly established groups have claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on Western diplomatic and security installations.
A little-known militant group by the name of Saraya Awlia al-Dam (Guardians of Blood Brigades) claimed responsibility for the Erbil attack.
US and Iraqi officials have told AFP they believe such factions to be "smokescreen" entities for more prominent pro-Iran groups including Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq.
"The continued targeting of the Green Zone despite the clear decision of the Coordinating Body for the Iraqi Resistance and in a way that every time rockets fall on residential areas without any real casualties or losses at the embassy puts many question marks on the side that benefits from them," Qais al-Khazali, the leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, tweeted on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, some Western and Iraqi officials say Iran is using its allies to harass US forces without being held accountable. Tensions between the two countries soared after the US assassinated top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani last January, prompting a spate of rocket attacks from Iran-backed militias on Iraqi bases hosting foreign troops, and a non-binding parliamentary resolution calling for foreign troops to leave Iraq.
Iran-backed militias announced a "conditional" ceasefire in October, suspending attacks targeting US personnel and facilities provided that the United States withdraws from Iraq.
However, the Kataib Hezbollah spokesperson vowed more serious attacks if Washington did not leave. "If America insists on staying and doesn't respect the parliament's decision, then the factions will use all the weapons at their disposal," Mohi told Reuters in October.
The ceasefire was broken by a rocket attack on the Green Zone on November 17, which killed a child and injuring five other civilians.
In December, a former security official for Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades said the attacks “must not be repeated.”
A number of rockets fell inside the Green Zone in December.
