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The U.S.-designated terrorist group is the most significant player in the Popular Mobilization Forces, which is supposed to be under the command of Prime Minister Sudania fact that U.S. officials sometimes forget.

When American forces killed Kataib Hezbollah (KH) members in Iraq on February 3 and 7, the Pentagon was at pains to claim, incorrectly, that the United States was not targeting members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an institution that is legally under the prime minister's command and funded through the PMF Commission, also under the premier's authority. U.S. officials should be careful not to obfuscate these facts, particularly amid Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's first White House visit and other significant bilateral discussions.

On February 5, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryderstated, The folks that we're striking are not part of the PMF." Yet Sudani visited wounded PMF troops after the February 3 strike. Similarly, on February 8, Ryder noted that the KH commander killed bythe previous day'sU.S. airstrike was not a member of the PMF, he's a Kataib Hezbollah commander. Again, the facts showed otherwise: the slain official in question, Abu Baqr al-Saeedi, was an advisor to the commanders office at the PMF Central Security Directorate, which is led by the U.S.-sanctioned KH terrorist and human rights abuserAbu Zainab al-Lami (real name Hussein Falah Aziz al-Lami). Indeed, Abu Baqrs PMF identification card was shown after his death.

Both during and after Sudani's landmark Washington visit, it is important to restate the facts regarding the direct relationship between KH, the Prime Minister's Office, and the broader Iraqi government:

KH is directly responsible for numerous crimes and attacks against American targets, most recently:

Again, it is crucial that U.S. officials, congressional representatives, and media organs ask Sudani to clarify his relationship with the designated terrorist group KH. As commander-in-chief of the PMF, he could expel KH members from the force and cease paying them with a mere pen stroke, but he has not done so. Nor has he pursued human rights abusers, killers, and kidnappers within the KH contingent of Iraqs security forces, or secured Elizabeth Tsurkov'srelease one year after she was seized by a group supposedly under his authority.

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Kataib Hezbollah is Part of Iraq's PMF - The Washington Institute