U.S. air strikes in Iraq and Syria against the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group have brought a threat of reprisal.
These are the most powerful such paramilitary groups in Iraq.
KATAIB HEZBOLLAH
Formed in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion, the secretive Kataib Hezbollah (Battalions of the Party Of God) is one of the smallest Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, with an estimated 5,000 members. But it is considered one of the most dangerous.
During the recent war against Islamic State, Kataib received battlefield training from Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Kataib has long targeted U.S. forces and was one of the earliest groups to dispatch fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war.
In 2009, Washington declared Kataib Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organization, saying it threatened stability in Iraq, one of the most important U.S. allies in the Arab world.
The group’s founder Jamal Jaafar Ibrahimi, known by his nom de guerre Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, has warned of a strong response against U.S. forces following Sunday’s attacks on several bases that killed at least 25 people.
Muhandes is an adviser to Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Qods Force — an arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that gives material support to groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
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