Kataib Hezbollah

When the US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February 2026, Kataib Hezbollah declared it "will not remain neutral", the most direct signal that Iranian-aligned Iraqi militias were preparing to enter the conflict. Hundreds of protesters subsequently attempted to storm the US embassy in Baghdad. The embassy compound was later targeted by rockets, with defence systems activated. On 10 September 2026 the US State Department announced sanctions on Kataib Hezbollah, Hezbollah and their financial networks in Iraq and Lebanon under Operation Economic Outcast, extending an August campaign that had targeted Iranian oil-trading and shipping networks.

Kataib Hezbollah is an Iranian-aligned Iraqi Shia militia and one of the most powerful factions within Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). The US designated it a terrorist organisation in 2009. It has received funding, training and weapons from Iran's IRGC Quds Force since its founding, and operates as Tehran's primary Iraqi proxy.

Iraq has become a fifth operational front in the conflict. Saraya Awliya al-Dam, a separate Iraqi militia, claimed drone attacks on US forces at Baghdad International Airport and a base in Irbil. The militia ecosystem operates with sufficient autonomy that individual groups can escalate without a direct Iranian order, complicating any Ceasefire and giving Washington's financial designations a wide field of targets to work through.