US designates Iraq-based Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya as terror group

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US Department of State on Monday designated the Iraq-based Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya as "specially designated global terrorists."

The State Department said in a statement that the group's secretary-general, Haydar Muzhir Ma'lak al-Sa'idi, has also been designated as a terrorist.

Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya "is an Iraq-based Iran-aligned militia group and part of the ‘Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI)’— a front group that includes multiple Iran-aligned terrorist and militia groups, including U.S.-designated terrorist organizations Kata’ib Hizballah, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, that have repeatedly attacked Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria," it said.

Stressing that the group has claimed responsibility for dozens of recent attacks on US military personnel in Iraq and Syria, including a drone attack that killed three US service members in Jordan, the statement said it has also terrorized the Iraqi people.

"The United States remains committed to using all available tools to counter Iran’s support for terrorism and to degrade and disrupt the ability of Iran-backed groups to conduct terrorist attacks," it added.