Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah announces suspension of attacks against US forces

Iraq’s pro-Iranian militia Kataib Hezbollah announced on Tuesday a suspension of attacks targeting US forces, a move that followed a drone strike in Jordan that killed 3 US troops and was widely blamed on the group. 

In a statement, the group said attacks on the “occupation forces” are suspended in order to avoid “embarrassment for the Iraqi government.”

“We will continue to defend our people in Gaza through other means,” the group’s Secretary General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said in the statement carried by Sabereen News, an outlet affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

Hamidawi added that Kataib Hezbollah would temporarily engage in “passive defense” in response to any potential US action against the group. Kataib Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamist militia and one of the most prominent Iran-backed groups in Iraq. 

The news follows Sunday’s strike on US troops in Jordan. The White House blamed “radical Iran-backed militant groups” for the attack in its statement and has decided to retaliate. 

The Pentagon went a step further, saying on Monday that the attack bore “the footprints of Kataib Hezbollah,” but it did not formally implicate the group.

Asked about Kataib Hezbollah statement, the Pentagon stressed on Tuesday that the group will be judged by its actions, not words. 

“I don’t have a specific comment to provide other than [that] actions speak louder than words,” Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder replied when asked about the group’s statement. “You’ve heard the president and Secretary [Lloyd] Austin say that we will respond,” Ryder said. “So there will be consequences.”

Ryder also said the United States is “confident” that the attack in Jordan was launched by Iran-backed militias. US National Security Council strategic coordinator John Kirby said on Tuesday that the US military was “still working through the forensics of the attack.”

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said he had decided on a response to the strike in Jordan but reiterated that he did not want a wider war in the Middle East.

Farhad Alaadin, foreign affairs adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, said that Kataib Hezbollah’s announcement followed days of work by the Iraqi premier to prevent further escalation, Reuters reported. 

US forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack more than 160 times since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7. The United States has carried out airstrikes in Iraq at least five times in response, including against Kataib Hezbollah, to thwart the strikes on US troops.

The United States has approximately 2,500 US troops in the country as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State.

On Saturday, at the request of the Iraqi government, the US and Iraq began formal talks on Saturday aimed at winding down the troop presence.

Kataib Hezbollah is pushing for full US and coalition forces withdrawal from Iraq. The group was founded in 2007, four years after the US invasion of Iraq. The US government designated it as a terrorist organization in 2009 following attacks on US forces in the country. 

This is a developing story and will be updated. Jared Szuba at the Pentagon contributed to this report.