US sanctions Iraqi militia over rocket, drone attacks

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States on Friday announced new sanctions on Iraqi militia group Kataib Hezbollah in connection with recent drone and rocket attacks on bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria.

Six individuals affiliated with Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah were sanctioned by the Treasury Department. The US Department of State also designated Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and its leader Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji. Washington accused both militias of receiving support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and involvement in dozens of attacks on American interests in Iraq and Syria since Israel’s war with Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“Today’s action sends a message to Kata’ib Hizballah and all other Iran-backed groups that the United States will use all available measures to hold to account any opportunistic actors who seek to exploit the situation in Gaza for their own ends,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. 

Kataib Hezbollah was first designated a terror organization in 2009, accused of attacks on American targets in Iraq.

According to the Pentagon, US forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack at least 58 times since Hamas’ surprise October 7 assault on Israel that killed 1,200 people and Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes that have killed more than 11,000, including many children. Most recently, suicide drones targeted Harir airbase in Erbil on Friday morning. 

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with the IRGC, have claimed responsibility for the majority of the attacks, saying they are in response to Washington’s support for Israel.

The US has carried out three retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militia targets in Syria.

The six Kataib Hezbollah-affiliated individuals sanctioned are Imad Naji al-Bahadli, a member of the group’s governing council accused of receiving training with Lebanese Hezbollah, Habib Hasan Mughamis Darraji, Kataib Hezbollah’s foreign affairs chief accused of coordinating training and smuggling, the group’s main spokesperson Ja’afar al-Husayni, senior military commander Khalid Kadhim Jasim al-Skeni, Basim Mohammad Hasab al-Majidi, executive director of affiliated TV station al-Ittijah, and Mojtaba Jahandust, an official with the IRGC’s Quds Forces who facilitates training of Kataib Hezbollah members in Iran.