The Iran-aligned group has already faced U.S. airstrikes targeting their drone facilities.
Topline
As the Biden administration deliberates on a military response to the attack on an airbase in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members, Iranian-backed militia group and frequent U.S. antagonist Kataib Hezbollah has returned to the spotlight after the Pentagon said the attack matched the group’s “footprints.”Key Facts
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Tuesday the drone strike on the Tower 22 base in Jordan « has the footprints of Kataib Hezbollah, » while still cautioning there isn’t a « final assessment » on who is responsible.
One day later, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. currently believes the strike was “planned, resourced, and facilitated by an umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which contains multiple groups including Kataib Hezbollah”—though he did not directly blame Kataib Hezbollah itself.
Kataib Hezbollah hasn’t spoken out on the attack, but the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack that took place near the borders of Jordan, Iraq and Syria, multiple outlets reported.
Kataib Hezbollah has previously claimed responsibility for other drone and missile strikes against U.S. bases in the region, including a Christmas Day attack that injured three American servicemembers at an airbase in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan (the U.S. responded by targeting several of the group’s alleged drone bases in Iraq).
After the Biden administration vowed retaliation for the drone attack—without specifying which groups it may target—Kataib Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi announced Tuesday the “suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces,” adding “we will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways,” though the Pentagon said the group’s “actions speak louder than words” at a press briefing on Tuesday.
