ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s pro-Iran Kata’ib Hezbollah announced on Thursday a five-day halt to strikes on the US Embassy in Baghdad, on the condition that bombings in the capital and other Iraqi provinces cease.
Abu Majeed Assaf, a senior figure in the group, said the decision was ordered by its leader, Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi.
The group also called for US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel to remain inside the embassy compound, noting that this condition does not apply to the Kurdistan Region.
Additional conditions include a halt to Israeli attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area where Lebanon’s Hezbollah holds sway.
Kata’ib Hezbollah warned that failure to meet these demands would result in a direct response and an escalation of attacks after the five-day period.
Assaf also urged Iraqi security forces not to protect US or Israeli personnel, describing them as “espionage and war groups.”
The announcement comes three days after the group said its spokesperson and senior security official, Abu Ali al-Askari, was killed in an airstrike in Baghdad.
Kata’ib Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by Washington.
Last week, Askari said that the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Israeli strikes at the start of the war had made undermining US assets and expelling them from the region a top priority for Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups.
In late February, the group had called on its fighters to prepare for what it described as a potentially prolonged “war of attrition” that could exceed US expectations.
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