US Department of State introduced a group Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada and his Secretary General on the Special List of Global Terrorists (SDGT).
At the same time, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against six individuals associated with the Kata’ib Hezbollah group in Iraq.
Since October 17, US and coalition troops in Iraq and Syria have been attacked at least 58 times amid tensions caused by the war between Israel and Hamas (designated a terrorist group by the United States). At least 59 American soldiers were wounded in the attacks, although all recovered and returned to duty.
“Today’s actions send a message to Kataib Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups that the United States will use every tool available to hold accountable any opportunistic actors seeking to exploit the situation in Gaza for their own benefit,” said the Undersecretary of the Treasury. for Counterterrorism and Financial Affairs. Intelligence Brian Nelson.
The sanctions freeze the U.S. assets of targeted individuals and entities and generally prohibit Americans from doing business with them.
Those individuals who engage in financial transactions with sanctioned entities run the risk of being sanctioned themselves.
Sanctioned individuals associated with Kataib Hezbollah included a member of the group’s top governing body, its foreign policy chief, and a military commander who the U.S. Treasury said collaborated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC) to train militants.
A member of the Qods Force, an IRGC unit that controls allied paramilitary groups in the region, was also sanctioned. According to Washington, he is organizing trips and training for Kataib Hezbollah militants in Iran.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a separate statement that Iran is supporting these groups with training, funding and advanced weapons, “including lethal, precision drones.” The head of US diplomacy added that Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada planned and supported attacks against the US military.
“Iran is the main state sponsor of terrorism in the world. “The United States remains committed to using all available means to counter Iran’s support for terrorism and reduce the ability of Iranian-backed groups to carry out terrorist attacks,” the State Department said in a statement.
The United States has deployed 900 troops to Syria and another 2,500 to neighboring Iraq to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group, which captured large areas of both countries in 2014 but was later defeated.