Exclusive - Iraqi Hezbollah’s Role Goes Beyond that of their Lebanese Namesake

Kataib Hezbollah members in Iraq. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Kataib Hezbollah members in Iraq. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Exclusive - Iraqi Hezbollah’s Role Goes Beyond that of their Lebanese Namesake

Kataib Hezbollah members in Iraq. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Kataib Hezbollah members in Iraq. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The name “Hezbollah” has been associated with two groups: The yellow flags of the Lebanese party and its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah and the more ideological and dangerous militia operating in Iraq.

The Kataib Hezbollah militia has been operating in Iraq for over 13 years. Just months ago, it was dealt one of the strongest strikes in wake of a rocket attack that targeted Iraq’s Taji base that claimed the lives of one British and two American soldiers. The response was swift, with American and British air raids against Kataib Hezbollah positions in Babel, Waset and an area near the Syrian border.

Imad Mughnieh, the notorious Lebanese terrorist and member of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah, was among the people who founded the Kataib’s main structure. He was killed in an Israeli strike on Damascus in 2008. Prior to that, he had, at Tehran’s orders, started to set up a party in Iraq similar to the one in Lebanon.

He was instructed to give it military and ideological wings. Mughieh apparently seemed to have noted many flaws in his Lebanese party and set about calmly forming the Iraqi one. He even used mosques and Shiite shrines as outlets to promote the militia.

When it first emerged, it boasted more than 4,000 members. The numbers grew even more just before the United States listed it as a terrorist organization.

The Kataib were associated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) that are aligned with Iran, but their role extends beyond the military, being more ideologically driven.

Expert on terrorist organizations Abdulkader Mahin said the Kataib do not have a secretary general like the Lebanese party, underlining the difference between the need and role of the two organizations. The Kataib are deployed in southern Iraq and are aimed at “creating holes in the border with Iran” because they are committed to its expansionist agenda in the region. The Kataib also do not have representatives in parliament or government like the Lebanese Hezbollah.

What do the Kataib want?

Mahin said the Kataib were originally formed with a military purpose. Things changed after 2009 and they were able to form a sort of military reserve, nothing more, that they could turn to in times of need to support Iran’s policies and agendas.

This changed after the Kataib became directly involved in the conflict in Syria, where their members backed the regime of Bashar Assad. They soon came to boast 4,000 to 5,000 recruits, who were in control of Syrian cities and taking orders from Iran.

The Kataib are not limited to a military role. They still play a part in promoting their ideology and positively portraying Iran’s involvement in Iraq. Its members are also involved in the economy, with many members meddling in important aspects of the sector, such as telecommunications and oil companies, as well as the aviation sector and border controls.

Hadi Amiri, one of the group’s most notorious members, had at one point served as transport minister and had been a vocal critic of Kuwait’s construction of the Mubarak Al Kabeer Port. He had claimed that the port blocks Iraq’s access to the Gulf.

In the shadows, the Kataib were among the most prominent groups threatening diplomatic missions and undermining political solutions. This did not escape the Iraqi people. When they took to the streets in massive anti-government protests last year, the Kataib were among their favorite targets for their unabashed loyalty to Iran.

Another dark mark in the group’s history is their involvement in the 2015 “Qatari ransom” whereby they reaped the greatest reward, receiving more than 1 billion dollars in the exchange for releasing Qataris who had been kidnapped in southern Iraq during a hunting trip.

The victims had claimed to the ruling Qatari family that they were abducted by the ISIS group, but leaked reports in 2016 revealed that they were held by the Kataib. This in effect refutes the official Qatari story that said it had paid the ransom to the Baghdad government.

The Kataib Hezbollah and their Lebanese namesake will likely continue to follow in the same footsteps in the future. They will continue to spark crises in order to maintain Iran’s religious and political influence, with the Kataib studiously and carefully pursuing Tehran’s agenda in Iraq.



Fireworks, Warplanes and Axes: How France Celebrates Bastille Day

France's President Emmanuel Macron (center-L) and France's Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Bukhard (center-R) and French Military Governor of Paris (GMP) Loic Mizon (center-Top) review troops as they stand in the command car flanked by France's mounted Republican Guard (Guarde Republicaine) during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron (center-L) and France's Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Bukhard (center-R) and French Military Governor of Paris (GMP) Loic Mizon (center-Top) review troops as they stand in the command car flanked by France's mounted Republican Guard (Guarde Republicaine) during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
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Fireworks, Warplanes and Axes: How France Celebrates Bastille Day

France's President Emmanuel Macron (center-L) and France's Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Bukhard (center-R) and French Military Governor of Paris (GMP) Loic Mizon (center-Top) review troops as they stand in the command car flanked by France's mounted Republican Guard (Guarde Republicaine) during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron (center-L) and France's Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Bukhard (center-R) and French Military Governor of Paris (GMP) Loic Mizon (center-Top) review troops as they stand in the command car flanked by France's mounted Republican Guard (Guarde Republicaine) during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

Swooping warplanes, axe-carrying warriors, a drone light show over the Eiffel Tower and fireworks in nearly every French town — it must be Bastille Day.

France celebrated its biggest holiday Monday with 7,000 people marching, on horseback or riding armored vehicles along the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysees, the most iconic avenue in Paris. And there are plans for partying and pageantry around the country, said The Associated Press.

Why Bastille Day is a big deal

Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison on July 14, 1789, a spark for the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy. In the ensuing two centuries, France saw Napoleon’s empire rise and fall, more uprisings and two world wars before settling into today’s Fifth Republic, established in 1958.

Bastille Day has become a central moment for modern France, celebrating democratic freedoms and national pride, a mélange of revolutionary spirit and military prowess.

The Paris parade beneath the Arc de Triomphe so impressed visiting US President Donald Trump in 2017 that it inspired him to stage his own parade this year.

What stood out

The spectacle began on the ground, with French President Emmanuel Macron reviewing the troops and relighting the eternal flame beneath the Arc de Triomphe.

Two riders fell from their horses near the end of the parade, and it was unclear whether anyone was hurt. Such incidents happen occasionally at the annual event.

Each parade uniform has a touch of symbolism. The contingent from the French Foreign Legion was eye-catching, its bearded troops wearing leather aprons and carrying axes, a reference to their original role as route clearers for advancing armies.

The Paris event included flyovers by fighter jets, trailing red, white and blue smoke. Then the evening sees a drone light show and fireworks at the Eiffel Tower that has gotten more elaborate every year.

What’s special about this year

Every year, France hosts a special guest for Bastille Day, and this year it’s Indonesia, with President Prabowo Subianto representing the world’s largest Muslim country, which also a major Asian economic and military player.

Indonesian troops, including 200 traditional drummers, marched in Monday’s parade, and Indonesia is expected to confirm new purchases of Rafale fighter jets and other French military equipment during the visit. Prabowo, who was accused of rights abuses under Indonesia's prior dictatorship, will be treated to a special holiday dinner at the Elysée Palace.

“For us as Indonesian people, this is a very important and historic military and diplomatic collaboration,'' the commander of the Indonesian military delegation, Brig. Gen. Ferry Irawan, told The Associated Press.

Finnish troops serving in the UN force in Lebanon, and Belgian and Luxembourg troops serving in a NATO force in Romania also paraded through Paris, reflecting the increasingly international nature of the event.

Among the dignitaries invited to watch will be Fousseynou Samba Cissé, who rescued two babies from a burning apartment earlier this month and received a last-minute invitation in a phone call from Macron himself.

‘’I wasn't expecting that call,'' he told online media Brut. ‘’I feel pride.''

What’s the geopolitical backdrop

Beyond the military spectacle in Paris are growing concerns about an uncertain world. On the eve Bastille Day, Macron announced 6.5 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in extra French military spending in the next two years because of new threats ranging from Russia to terrorism and online attacks. The French leader called for intensified efforts to protect Europe and support for Ukraine.

‘’Since 1945, our freedom has never been so threatened, and never so seriously,″ Macron said. ’’We are experiencing a return to the fact of a nuclear threat, and a proliferation of major conflicts.″

Security was exceptionally tight around Paris ahead of and during the parade.

What else happens on Bastille Day

It’s a period when France bestows special awards — including the most prestigious, the Legion of Honor — on notable people. This year's recipients include Gisèle Pelicot, who became a global hero to victims of sexual violence during a four-month trial in which her husband and dozens of men were convicted of sexually assaulting her while she was drugged unconscious.

Others earning the honor are Yvette Levy, a Holocaust survivor and French Resistance fighter, and musician Pharrell Williams, designer for Louis Vuitton.

Bastille Day is also a time for family gatherings, firefighters' balls and rural festivals around France.