Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah suspends attacks on U.S. forces

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Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah announced on Tuesday the suspension of all its military operations against U.S. troops in the region, in a decision aimed at preventing “embarrassment” to the Iraqi government, the group said in a statement.

“As we announce the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces – in order to prevent embarrassment of the Iraqi government – we will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways, Kataib Hezbollah Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said in a statement released by the group on Telegram.

Three U.S. troops were killed in a drone attack near the Jordan-Syria border on Sunday that the Pentagon said bore the “footprints” of Kataib Hezbollah, though a final assessment had not yet been made. The Pentagon declined to comment on the group’s statement.

The group is the most powerful faction in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of hardline Shi’ite armed factions that have claimed more than 150 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the Gaza war began in October.

The U.S. has responded with deadly strikes in Syria and Iraq in a cycle of escalating violence that Iraqi officials said threatened to undo progress toward stabilizing the country after decades of conflict.

Kataib Hezbollah’s decision followed days of intensive efforts by Iraq’s prime minister to prevent a new escalation after the Jordan attack, his foreign affairs adviser Farhad Alaadin said.

“Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has been hard at work in the past few days, engaging with all relevant parties inside and outside Iraq,” Alaadin said in an interview.

“All sides need to support the efforts of the Prime Minister to prevent any possible escalation,” he added.

Founded in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah is one of the elite Iraqi armed factions closest to Iran. Iran has denied involvement in the attacks by Iraqi groups, saying all members of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” plan and execute operations by themselves.

Iraq’s government is backed by parties and armed groups close to Iran, though not directly by the hardline groups that have been firing on U.S. forces, Western and Iraqi officials say.

Baghdad has condemned the attacks while also saying regional escalation would continue as long as the Gaza war went on.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed on Monday the U.S. would take “all necessary actions” to defend its troops after the deadly drone attack, even as President Joe Biden’s administration stressed it was not seeking a war with Iran.