Shelly Kittelson<\/a> in Iraq. She was held for a week and released on April 7. Kataib Hezbollah also kidnapped Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov in March 2023, only releasing her in September 2025. In addition, the group killed three Americans in Jordan in January 2024.<\/p>\n![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/7e5cd02e0c2d5f7a219c8395b90ac6d6.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
US JOURNALIST Shelly Kittleson is pictured in Baghdad on March 31, shortly before she was abducted. Her disappearance has focused attention on the threat posed by Iran-backed militias and the deteriorating security environment in postwar Iraq. (credit: AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)<\/p>\n
It was led by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was wanted for embassy bombings in Kuwait in the 1980s. He was killed by a US drone strike along with IRGC Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not allow Iraq\u2019s terrorist militias, backed by Iran, to threaten American lives or interests,\u201d said US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. \u201cThose who enable these militias\u2019 violence will be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Groups designated as terrorist organizations<\/p>\n
Kata\u2019ib Hizballah, Asa\u2019ib Ahl Al-Haqq, Harakat Al-Nujaba, and Kata\u2019ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada were designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) and Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).<\/p>\n
The Treasury report says that \u201cAmmar Jasim Kadhim Al Rammahi (Rammahi) is a Kataib Hezbollah operational commander. In this role, he directs KH attack planning efforts and generates targeting information for attacks against US personnel and facilities. He also coordinates the timing and location of these KH operations.<\/p>\n
Similarly, both Radhwan Yousif Hameed Almohammed (Almohammed) and Hasan Dheyab Hamzah Hamzah (Hamzah) are senior KH officials involved in operations. Almohammed has been a key KH official for several years and coordinated KH operations. Hamzah also coordinates KH operations, including threats to US forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report also mentioned AAH. It says \u201cSafaa Adnan Jabbar Suwaed is a senior AAH official and military commander, as well as a chief of operations in Salah ad-Din Province, Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition, for KSS, the Treasury targeted \u201cKhalid Jameel Abed Albakhatra (Albakhatra) and Saeed Kadhim Mukhamis (Mukhamis) are senior KSS officials, with Albakhatra specifically serving as a KSS commander.\u201d Additionally, Husham Hashim Jaythoom (Jaythoom) is named as a military trainer for Harakat al-Nujaba (HAN).<\/p>\n
The report named some other individuals.<\/p>\n
Several days ago, the US State Department\u2019s Rewards for Justice program announced a $10 million reward for information on Ahmad al-Hamidawi, the leader of the militia Kataib Hezbollah. Hamidawi has been a designated terrorist since 2020, when he took over from Muhandis.<\/p>\n
Hamidawi was reported to have made a public appearance days after the reward was issued. He went to a parade in Karbala, a Shi\u2019ite holy site in Iraq. He was wearing a black mask and a headdress, similar to what a sheik might wear.<\/p>\n
The militias and Iran continue to carry out attacks in Iraq. On April 17, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, a Kurdish Iranian opposition group, was targeted near Erbil. It says three of its Peshmerga members were killed. According to reports, the victims were named as Neda Miri, Samira Elahi-Yari, and Shahin Azarbarzin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several days ago, the US State Department\u2019s Rewards for Justice program announced a $10 million reward for information…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[26637,26636,34,94,8635,26640,26639,26638,3769,1987],"class_list":{"0":"post-72306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iraq","8":"tag-ahmad-al-hamidawi","9":"tag-hasan-dheyab-hamzah-hamzah","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-iraq","12":"tag-militias","13":"tag-radhwan-yousif-hameed-almohammed","14":"tag-terrorist-activities","15":"tag-treasury","16":"tag-treasury-department","17":"tag-us-state-department"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116428772731830601","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}