From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 5, 2026
Senior Kataeb Hezbollah officer killed, Iraqi pro-Iran militias threaten European nations that join war on Iran
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GooglePro-Iranian militias in Iraq vow to target the regional interests of European nations that participate in the “Zionist-American” strikes on the Islamic Republic and its proxies, after a senior officer in Kataeb Hezbollah, Iraq’s largest pro-Iran militia, was killed in an airstrike south of Baghdad overnight.
“The criminal Zionist-American enemy continues rallying its allies against the free people of the Islamic Republic and the region, begging some of the European countries to join,” the militias say in a statement issued via their umbrella group, Islamic Resistance in Iraq. “Any of those countries that do join in this battle… their forces and interests in Iraq and the region will be subject to legitimate targeting.”
The statement comes as the United Kingdom and several European Union countries send reinforcements to EU member Cyprus after a British sovereign base on the Mediterranean island was attacked by an Iranian drone on Monday. Britain has also said it would let the US use UK military bases in the region for “defensive” strikes against Iran.
Earlier today, Kataeb Hezbollah chief Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi announced the death of his senior deputy Ali Hassan al-Furayji and two other operatives in a US-Israeli strike overnight.
Hamidawi said his deputy was in his 60s and had for over two decades served as a “valiant commander in Kataeb Hezbollah.”
????️ كتائب حزب الله العراق تؤكد رسمياً أن 3 من عناصرها – قائد كبير واثنان من مرافقيه – قُتلوا مساء أمس في هجوم على مركبتهم بواسطة طائرة مسيرة في محافظة بابل بالعراق.
أبو حسن الفريجي، القيادي الذي يُطلق عليه في إعلان التعزية "القائد الجهادي الكبير"، هو جزء من الصف الأول لقيادة هذه… pic.twitter.com/6i96V998Eu— Safaa Subhi صفاء صبحي (@SafaaAlNuaimi) March 5, 2026
According to Arabic media, the three Kataeb Hezbollah operatives were killed in a strike that targeted a vehicle belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of pro-Iran militias that was formally placed under the control of the Iraqi military in 2016 amid the country’s war against the Islamic State terror group.
A funeral procession for the three operatives was held today at the PMF media directorate in Baghdad, according to footage published by Arabic media. The footage shows the operatives’ coffins, decked in Kataeb Hezbollah insignia, on a stage in front of a large crowd holding flags of Iraq and Kataeb Hezbollah flags, and pictures of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran on Saturday.
سلاح المعركة للقائد الجهادي الكبير ابو حسن الفريجي ورفاقه يوضع على النعوش الطاهرة اثناء التشييع. pic.twitter.com/j6UcvU3Nqi
— Sayad Hayder (@HayderSayad) March 5, 2026
The Times of Israel Community.