The United States on Friday offered up to $10 million for information on Sheikh Mohammad al-Kawtharani, a senior military commander of the Islamist group Hezbollah in Iraq who was an associate of the late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
Announcing the reward, the U.S. State Department said Kawtharani had "taken over some of the political coordination of Iran-aligned paramilitary groups" formerly organized by Soleimani, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January.
"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 organized criminal activity," it said in a statement.