The United States government has offered a second $10 million bounty in weeks on the leader of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, signalling a deliberate campaign by Washington to hunt down Tehran-aligned armed group commanders one by one.
The U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme announced Thursday that it was seeking information on Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji, also known as Abu Alaa al-Walai, the leader of Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada, a Tehran-backed armed group designated as a terrorist organisation by Washington.
According to the State Department, the group has killed Iraqi civilians and attacked U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq, as well as targeting U.S. military bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria.
Those with credible information on al-Saraji’s whereabouts were told they could be eligible for both the reward and relocation.
The announcement follows a similar $10 million bounty placed earlier this month on Ahmad Al Hamidawi, the leader of Kataeb Hezbollah, another powerful Iranian-backed militia. That group had kidnapped American journalist Shelly Kittleson from a Baghdad street in March, holding her for a week before releasing her.
The back-to-back bounties reflect growing U.S. frustration with Iran-aligned militias operating across Iraq, whose attacks have extended beyond the country’s borders to
U.S. troops in Jordan and Kuwait.
Saudi officials this week told the Wall Street Journal that more than half of 1,000 drone attacks on the kingdom were launched from Iraqi soil, drawing condemnation from Gulf states including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan.
Washington has also turned up pressure on the Iraqi government directly, halting security cooperation and suspending dollar shipments from Iraqi oil revenue in a bid to force Baghdad to rein in the militia groups operating within its borders.
