US offers $10m bounty for information on Hezbollah commander

The United States of America has proposed to offer the sum of $10 million to anyone who has information on Hezbollah commander in Iraq identified as Sheikh Mohammed Kawtharani.

Branded a global terrorist by the US in 2013 and accused of funding armed groups in Iraq, Sheikh Mohammed Kawtharani was an associate of slain Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

Announcing the reward on Saturday, the US State Department said Kawtharani had “taken over some of the political coordination of Iran-aligned paramilitary groups” formerly organised by Soleimani, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander assassinated in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January.

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“In this capacity, he facilitates the actions of groups operating outside the control of the Government of Iraq that have violently suppressed protests, attacked foreign diplomatic missions, and engaged in wide-spread organised criminal activity,” it said in a statement.

The State Department said it was offering the sum for information on Kawtharani’s activities, networks and associates as part of an effort to disrupt the “financial mechanisms” of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

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