US offers $10M reward for information on leader of Iran-aligned militia group

The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program announced a $10 million reward on Tuesday for information leading to the identification or location of Akram ‘Abbas al-Kabi.

“Akram ‘Abbas al-Kabi is the founder and leader of Harakat al-Nujaba (HAN), an Iran-aligned terrorist militia group in Iraq,” the department said. Officials alleged that “HAN members have attacked US diplomatic facilities in Iraq as well as US military bases in Iraq and Syria, killing a US contractor and wounding US service members.”

The US previously designated al-Kabi and his organization as Specially Designated Global Terrorists in 2019.

The announcement follows US Treasury sanctions on seven commanders from groups including Kata’ib Hizballah and Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haqq in mid-April.

According to a September document from the State Department, the group “has openly pledged its loyalties to Iran” and then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The agency said Tehran supports HAN “both militarily and logistically” and that the group “had close ties with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force’s (IRGC-QF) former commander Qasem Soleimani and former Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah.”