Knowing Kataib Hezbollah

Harapandaily

Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah has been identified as the group that killed three US troops on the Jordan-Syria border.

But what is Kataib Hezbollah? The following are the facts regarding this militia group, according to Reuters.

  • Founded in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah is one of the elite Iraqi armed factions closest to Iran.
  • It is the most powerful armed faction in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of hardline Shi’ite armed groups that have claimed more than 150 attacks on U.S. forces since the Gaza war began.
  • After its founding, the group quickly developed a reputation for deadly attacks against military and diplomatic targets in the 2000s, using a mixture of sniper, rocket and mortar attacks and roadside bombs.
  • It does not openly confirm or deny involvement.

The U.S. designated it as a terrorist organization in 2009.

  • It was led by dual Iraqi-Iranian citizen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis until he was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020 along with Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad’s international airport.