What Is Kataib Hezbollah? Pro-Iran Militia Hit by US Airstrikes

Early on Tuesday, the U.S. military carried out a new round of airstrikes in Iraq which most likely killed several members of the Iran-backed group Kataib Hezbollah and destroyed three facilities used by the militants and other groups, according to officials.

The airstrikes followed a series of attacks by members of Kataib Hezbollah hours earlier on the Erbil airbase in Iraq, according to Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman quoted by several news media outlets. A drone attack by the group injured three American service members.

But what is Kataib Hezbollah? The Iraq-based militia group, also known as the Hezbollah Brigades, is a Shiite Iraqi insurgent group which was founded in 2007 as the union of five other militant organizations, according to Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation.

The group's first attack, conducted using an improvised rocket-assisted munition against a U.S. base southeast of Baghdad in 2008, killed one American civilian. The following year, the U.S. labeled the group a terrorist organization.

While Kataib Hezbollah's initial actions focused on Washington's troops in Iraq, the group moved on to fighting the Islamic State (IS) in the country following the U.S. withdrawal in 2011. But after the general defeat of IS in 2017, the group went back to targeting American forces.

Since Hamas' attack against Israel on October 7 and the Israeli government's war against the militant group, which has caused more than 20,000 deaths in Gaza—most of them civilians, and most of which are women and children—the group's attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq have increased.

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) wrote that the group "poses a high threat to U.S. diplomatic and military personnel in Iraq and Syria because of its access to areas with a U.S. presence and its longstanding hostility toward U.S. and allied forces, as demonstrated by its history of attacks and anti-American rhetoric."

According to the Stanford University's researchers, Kataib Hezbollah has received "a significant amount of training, logistical support, and weapons from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The group seeks to establish an Iran-aligned government in Iraq, according to the DNI, and expel U.S. and coalition forces from the country.

Kataib Hezbollah was led by founder Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis until 2020, when he was killed in a drone strike, and is now headed by Ahmad al-Hamidawi. It currently counts up to 10,000 members, according to the DNI.

The U.S. strikes against the group on Tuesday were authorized by President Joe Biden, who was informed of the series of assaults against U.S. troops on the Erbil airbase in Iraq on Christmas morning, according to the White House.

In a statement about the U.S. strikes on Tuesday, General Michael Erik Kurilla of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said: "These strikes are intended to hold accountable those elements directly responsible for attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and Syria and degrade their ability to continue attacks. We will always protect our forces."

A statement by CENTCOM said that "there are no indications that any civilian lives were affected" by the U.S. strikes. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called the strikes "necessary and proportionate."

However, the Iraqi government said more than 18 people had been injured, including civilians, labeling the U.S. actions a "clear hostile act."

"It runs counter to the pursuit of enduring mutual interests in establishing security and stability, and it opposes the declared intention of the American side to enhance relations with Iraq," Baghdad said in a statement carried by an Iraqi news agency on Tuesday.

"We emphasize that this action undermines the bilateral relations between the two nations," the Iraqi government added.

"Above all, it constitutes an unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty," it said.