PMF Leaders Acknowledge Difficulty after US Sanctions

PMF members march during the funeral Asaib Ahl al-Haq members, who were killed when protesters attacked the group's office during anti-government rallies, in Baghdad, October 26, 2019. (Reuters)
PMF members march during the funeral Asaib Ahl al-Haq members, who were killed when protesters attacked the group's office during anti-government rallies, in Baghdad, October 26, 2019. (Reuters)
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PMF Leaders Acknowledge Difficulty after US Sanctions

PMF members march during the funeral Asaib Ahl al-Haq members, who were killed when protesters attacked the group's office during anti-government rallies, in Baghdad, October 26, 2019. (Reuters)
PMF members march during the funeral Asaib Ahl al-Haq members, who were killed when protesters attacked the group's office during anti-government rallies, in Baghdad, October 26, 2019. (Reuters)

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) condemned the US Treasury’s decision to blacklist a number of its leaders.

These leaders included Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq Iran-backed militia and his brother Laith al-Khazali, another leader of the group, according to a statement from the US Treasury Department.

They also target Hussein Falih al-Lami, security chief for the PMF, Iraq’s state umbrella group of paramilitary factions, which is dominated by groups backed by Iran, including Asaib.

An offshoot PMF coalition released a statement saying that the group is being subject to pressure to step down from certain “goals and rights.”

“We strongly condemn the US Treasury’s decision to impose so-called sanctions on a group of PMF leaders and symbols of Islamic resistance,” the statement said.

“This decision does not affect the resistance project and its ability to confront the arrogant scheme, whose features have begun to become clear in chaos, desolation and destruction,” it added in reference to Iraq’s anti-government protests.

It also reaffirmed that the “Islamic resistance” faces enormous pressure to give up protecting social freedoms from “foreign schemes,” and that protecting the resistance is a “duty no less sacred than protecting borders and the sovereignty of the homeland.”

The Treasury Department said in its statement that groups led by the three paramilitary leaders “opened fire on peaceful protests, killing dozens of innocent civilians.”

Iraqi paramilitary groups deny any role in the deaths of protesters, who have demonstrated against the government for more than two months. Security forces have killed more than 400 mostly unarmed protesters, police and medics say.

The new sanctions also targeted Iraqi businessman Khamis al-Khanjar for alleged corruption, the statement said.



Israeli Military Says it Struck 'Key' Hamas Figure in Lebanon's Tripoli

People gather near a damaged car after the Israeli military said in a statement that it struck a "key" figure from Palestinian militant group Hamas, in Ayrounieh, northern Lebanon July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Walid Saleh
People gather near a damaged car after the Israeli military said in a statement that it struck a "key" figure from Palestinian militant group Hamas, in Ayrounieh, northern Lebanon July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Walid Saleh
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Israeli Military Says it Struck 'Key' Hamas Figure in Lebanon's Tripoli

People gather near a damaged car after the Israeli military said in a statement that it struck a "key" figure from Palestinian militant group Hamas, in Ayrounieh, northern Lebanon July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Walid Saleh
People gather near a damaged car after the Israeli military said in a statement that it struck a "key" figure from Palestinian militant group Hamas, in Ayrounieh, northern Lebanon July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Walid Saleh

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had struck "key" figure from Palestinian militant group Hamas near the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, the first targeted killing in the area for several months.

In a statement, Israel's military did not give the identity of the targeted person. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Lebanese state media said a car had been hit near Tripoli and the health ministry reported two people were killed and three others wounded, without identifying them, Reuters reported.

Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups maintain a presence in various areas of Lebanon, mostly in camps that have housed displaced Palestinians for decades.

Since Hamas' cross-border attack from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel in 2023, Israel has carried out targeted strikes on Lebanese armed group Hezbollah as well as members of Palestinian factions in Lebanon.

Hamas' deputy chief was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs in early 2024, and other strikes hit Palestinian camps in northern Lebanon.

A US-brokered ceasefire last year ended the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, though Israel has continued to carry out strikes on what it says are Hezbollah arms depots and fighters, mostly in southern Lebanon.

Tuesday's strike near Tripoli was the first time a targeted assassination had taken place in the area since the truce.

Meanwhile, US envoy Thomas Barrack continued a two-day visit to Lebanon to discuss disarming Hezbollah and other militant groups.