ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Abu Ali al-Askari, security chief and spokesperson of Iraq’s powerful pro-Iran armed group Kataib Hezbollah, has been killed, the group announced Monday, as US and Israeli strikes continue targeting pro-Iran groups in Iraq.

“With pride and acceptance of God’s will and decree, we announce the martyrdom of Haj Abu Ali al-Askari,” Kataib Hezbollah announced in a statement.

Askari, notorious for issuing strongly-worded threats against the US and Israel for over a decade, emerged in the spotlight following the rise of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a network of Iraqi armed groups, some of which maintain strong ties to Iran.

Among these groups is Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful militia that, like much of the PMF, has been integrated into Iraq’s state security forces but had carried out attacks against US interests in Iraq and the region over the years. 

Information regarding the location and manner of the attack was not disclosed by Kataib Hezbollah. 

But the statement came amid a wider US-Israeli operation targeting pro-Iran militias in Iraq, with the Iran war in its third week.

During the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran and the 12-Day War in June, Askari frequently defended attacks against the US and Israel as part of the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq.”

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq is a network of Iran-aligned Iraqi Shiite militia groups that have carried out attacks against US interests and vital infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region during the ongoing Iran war.

At least 32 members of Iran-aligned Iraqi militias have been killed since the onset of the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to data compiled by The New Region.