The United States on Friday offered up to $10 million for information on Sheikh Mohammad al-Kawtharani. He is a senior military commander and terrorist of the Islamist group Hezbollah in Iraq. The late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani trained him. As it offered $25 million for Osama bin Laden head, past US success dooms this Hezbollah terrorist.
Announcing the reward, the U.S. State Department said Kawtharani had “taken over some of the political coordination of Iran-aligned paramilitary groups”. Formerly Soleimani organized these groups. A U.S. drone strike killed Soleimani in January. He was an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander.
The State Department said in a statement:
In this capacity, he facilitates the actions of groups operating outside the control of the Government of Iraq that have violently suppressed protests, attacked foreign diplomatic missions, and engaged in wide-spread organized criminal activity.
HEZBOLLAH IS THE ULTIMATE TERRORIST MACHINE
The State Department said it was offering the sum for information on Kawtharani’s activities, networks and associates as part of an effort to disrupt the “financial mechanisms” of the Lebanese-based Hezbollah.
The United States branded Kawtharani a global terrorist in 2013. It accused him of funding armed groups in Iraq and helping transport Iraqi fighters to Syria to join Assad’s effort to put down a revolt against his rule. Kawtharani has the blood of Syrian women and children on his hands.
Reuters reported in February that according to two Iraqi sources and a senior Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim leader, Iran and Iraq saw Kawtharani for now as the most suitable figure to direct Iraqi militias. All claimed he did not have have Soleimani’s clout. Nonetheless, his participation in terrorizing U.S. troops in Iraq is drawing lots of attention from the Pentagon’s top brass.
The Shi’ite leader, Reuters spoke to, said:
Kawtharani has connections with the militia groups. He was trusted by Soleimani, who used to depend and call on him to help him in crises and in meetings in Baghdad.
Reuters contributed to this article.
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