UANI Resource: Kata’ib Hezbollah Responsible For Deaths Of Two American Soldiers

Iran-Backed Militia Kata’ib Hezbollah Continues Tehran’s Global Terror Campaign

(New York, N.Y.) – On March 11, the Iranian-sponsored, anti-American Shiite militia Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) further escalated regional violence in Iraq by striking at Camp Taji, killing two American soldiers, a British soldier, as well as wounding more than a dozen other individuals. In response to the targeted attack, U.S. forces on Thursday conducted defensive precision airstrikes on five separate weapons storage facilities associated with KH. The move was part of a series of military confrontations and subsequent de-escalations between the U.S. and Iranian proxy forces in Iraq that have beset the country since IRGC-QF Commander Qassem Soleimani and KH leader Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes were killed in early January in an airstrike on Iraq's Baghdad International Airport.

Since the Trump administration withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May 2018 and implemented a “maximum pressure” campaign, Iran has pursued a strategy of gradually escalating hostilities against the economic and military interests of the U.S. and its allies, taking care not to cross red lines that would trigger devastating reprisals. In April 2019, according to intelligence reports, Soleimani met with Iraqi Shia militia leaders and told them to prepare for a proxy war against the U.S. KH has been at the forefront of Iran’s ongoing campaign of provocations, initiating hostilities and then exercising strategic restraint.

As of 2008, Iran’s IRGC Quds Force has been funding KH, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Though little is publicly known about Iran’s financing of KH since then, it is widely believed that Iran continues to finance KH’s operations. Since the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979, one of the defining hallmarks of the Iranian regime has been its habitual use of terrorism against the United States and its allies throughout the world and its ties to terrorist organizations. In addition to carrying out direct attacks, Iran has committed terrorism by proxy through Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, among others.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has urged the U.S. Department of State to make greater use of its ability to designate Iran-backed Shiite militias as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) to further amplify the maximum pressure campaign. To date, aside from the IRGC, the only Shiite militias styled as FTOs are Hezbollah in Lebanon, Kata’ib Hezbollah in Iraq, the al-Ashtar Brigades in Bahrain, and Asaib Ahl al-Haq. Similar entities acting as Iran’s proxies should likewise be added to the FTO list — including the Houthis, the Badr Organization, Saraya Khorassani, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, Kata’ib Imam Ali, Zainabiyoun Brigade, Fatemiyoun Division, Liwa Abu al-Fadhal al- Abbas, and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada. As an interim measure, the U.S. government should levy terrorism sanctions against Iran’s affiliates in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen under Executive Order 13224.

To read UANI’s resource Kata’ib Hezbollah, please click here.

To read UANI’s resource Iran: Leading State Sponsored Terrorism, please click here.

To read Next Steps in the Maximum Pressure Campaign, please click here.

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