A giant billboard depicting members of the Kata'ib Hezbollah paramilitary group killed in an airstrike in al-Qa'im; the photo was taken on Sept. 21, 2026, in the Sadr City district in eastern Baghdad. (Credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP)
BEIRUT — Kataeb Hezbollah, one of the Iran-backed armed militias in Iraq, announced Thursday that it was suspending its military activities in Iraq, except for operations targeting "hostile aircraft," following the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops from the country.
The group’s leader, Ahmad al-Hamidawi, called on his fighters to end their military activities, "except for targeting hostile aircraft violating the country’s airspace," the Associated Press reported. The announcement comes as several Tehran-aligned factions have been celebrating the U.S. withdrawal across Iraq since Wednesday, while refusing to give up their weapons.
Deadline for disarmament
The Kataeb Hezbollah chief’s announcement comes amid ongoing talks between the Iraqi government and the country’s pro-Iranian militias over their disarmament, as Baghdad seeks to assert a monopoly over weapons under heavy U.S. pressure.
Returning from the United States, where the U.N. General Assembly was held last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi set June 30, 2027, as the deadline for completing the process. He had previously pledged to Washington that disarmament would be achieved by the end of this year.
“Oct. 1 must mark the starting point for tackling the problem of weapons outside state control ... according to a clear roadmap and a deadline of June 30, 2027, at the latest,” the Iraqi prime minister said in a statement. Baghdad had initially set the deadline for Sept. 30, 2026.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States was leaving Iraq in the hands of the "formidable" Iraqi prime minister, a leader who, he said, “will hopefully manage the situation very well,” in a post on Truth Social.
The previous day, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein announced that the government had prepared a draft plan to this end, which would be presented in the coming days and include a specific timeline for implementation.
The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” a coalition of pro-Iranian armed groups that includes Kataeb Hezbollah, said the ongoing talks with the government over a state monopoly on weapons had failed to produce an agreement. Its spokesperson, Jaafar al-Husseini, said the factions were not bound by “any disarmament timetable” imposed by Baghdad and that “the weapons of the Resistance will remain in the hands of the fighters,” adding that they would continue to be directed “against any enemy targeting Iraq and its people.”
US withdrawal from Erbil
The disarmament of pro-Iranian factions is one of Baghdad’s main security challenges following the departure Wednesday of the last U.S. forces stationed in Iraq. Deployed to Iraq and neighboring Syria since 2014 to fight the Islamic State (IS) group, the last troops from the U.S.-led anti-jihadist coalition left Erbil air base in Iraqi Kurdistan.
After defeating IS in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, the international coalition, which comprises forces from more than 80 countries, remained in the region to target the group’s remaining elements. Baghdad and Washington decided in 2024 to end the mission, although pockets of jihadists remain in some desert areas.
“This Day is a victory for the United States, a victory for Iraq, and a decisive victory over ISIS,” Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on the occasion. The Pentagon nevertheless assured it would continue to “provide targeted training and intelligence support” to Iraq.
The jihadist group lost most of its territory in Iraq by 2017, then its last territorial holdout in Syria in 2019, but cells affiliated with the organization remain active in the region. U.S. forces gradually withdrew from most of Iraq beginning in 2025, before concentrating their presence in Erbil.
The United States also completed its withdrawal from its last bases in Syria in spring 2026. The command structure of the international operation against IS remains active from Jordan, with Washington saying it intends to continue supporting its regional partners in the event of a potential jihadist resurgence.
