27/02/2020

Head of Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq listed as “global terrorist” by U.S. State Department

WASHINGTON — With attacks on Iraqi military bases housing American forces ongoing, and the Hezbollah factions in Iraqi have been accused of attacking those bases and other American installations. In addition, the group’s Secretary-General has been listed on the terrorist list.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced that it had labelled Ahmed al-Hamidawi, Secretary-General of the Iranian-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades), as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist as punishment for the group’s ongoing attacks on U.S. forces stationed in Iraq, including an attack that killed an American contractor at an Iraqi military base near the northern city of Kirkuk.

Kata’ib Hezbollah is active in Iraq and Syria and has been designated by Washington as a terrorist organization since 2009.

“Kata’ib Hezbollah continue to pose a threat to American forces in Iraq, and we have been continuing to put pressure on the group for 10 years,” said Nathan Siles, the State Department’s Coordinator of Counterterrorism Affairs, during a press briefing.

Washington has repeatedly accused Iranian-backed armed groups, Kata’ib Hezbollah, of the attacks on its military personnel stationed in Iraq, as well as the targeting of the American Embassy in Baghdad.