4 days ago
Terror group issues 'legitimate target' warning to US nationals and allies
An Iraqi terror group says that all US nationals in the Middle East will be "legitimate targets" if Donald Trump was to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader.
In recent days both Israel and Donald Trump have hinted there could be plans to assassinate the country's religious patriarch Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who is revered and respected across the Shiite world.
In response, Akram al-Kaabi - who rules the powerful Iraqi Shiite militia Karakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HaN - has said any threat to Khamenei's life would see the lives of the American people and their allies becoming "legitimate targets" anywhere in the region.
In March 2019, the group was designated a terror group by the US and hit it with sanctions prohibiting business with the militia or its leader. The 10,000-strong fighting force is active in both Iraq and Syria and is part of the wider 200,000-man Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iranian proxy.
The sanctions came over Nujaba's targeting of US forces in the two countries. They have also been accused of human rights violations.
Some consider the group as the most aggressive of the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, and has positioned itself as the armed resistance to US presence in the country. According to the Washington Institute, the militia is responsible for the majority of the attacks on US bases in Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan.
