Abu Ali al-Askari, the spokesman and security chief of the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah Iraq, has been eliminated. The group’s secretary-general announced his death in an official statement.

Al-Askari was considered a key and highly influential figure within Kataib Hezbollah, widely regarded as the most powerful and hardline of the Iraqi militias loyal to Iran.

He was likely killed in one of the recent U.S. strikes in Iraq, possibly during a strike in Baghdad’s Karrada district.