I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 691 
To impose sanctions with respect to Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 31, 2023 
Mr. STEUBE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judi-
ciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To impose sanctions with respect to Kata’ib Sayyid al- 
Shuhada. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sanctioning Iranian- 
Backed Militia Terrorists Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) is an Ira-
nian-backed Iraqi militia founded in 2003 by Abu 
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Mustafa al-Sheibani, who was sanctioned on Janu-
ary 9, 2008, by the Department of the Treasury 
‘‘for threatening the peace and stability of Iraq and 
the Government of Iraq’’. Sheibani led a network 
which according to the Department of the Treasury 
conducted 
improvised 
explosive 
device 
attacks 
against United States soldiers in Baghdad. 
(2) KSS openly recognizes the Iranian Supreme 
Leader Ali Khamanei as its spiritual leader. 
(3) KSS is provided training, funding, and 
arms by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 
(IRGC) and IRGC-Quds Forces and works closely 
with Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH), Lebanese Hezbollah, 
and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), all of which have 
been designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations 
by the Department of State. 
(4) KSS has fought under the command of 
former IRGC-Quds Forces commander Qassem 
Soleimani. The militia has members who operate as 
a unit of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), 
which is a formal part of the Iraqi federal govern-
ment under the authority of the Prime Minister of 
Iraq and which receives funding from the Iraqi fed-
eral government, including salaries. 
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(5) Since its founding KSS has deployed forces 
to Syria to engage in military operations supporting 
the Government of Syria, including offensives in 
Daraa, Quneitera, the Damascus suburbs, and the 
Aleppo countryside. 
(6) In 2015, KSS threatened to ‘‘strike and de-
stroy’’ Saudi Arabia, saying in a statement: ‘‘We in 
the Sayyid al Shuhada Battalion consider Saudi in-
terests a legitimate and permissible target on all lev-
els, and we will strike and destroy them whenever it 
pleases us.’’. 
(7) In August 2019, Abu Alaa al-Wala’i, a lead-
er of KSS, said that ‘‘All Americans will be held 
hostage by the resistance factions in the event of a 
war.’’. 
(8) On February 14, 2020, the Department of 
State announced that sanctions were imposed on 
KSS pursuant to section 3 of the Iran, North Korea, 
and Syria Nonproliferation Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 
note) for engaging in illicit arms transfers to or ac-
quisition from Iran. 
(9) On February 25, 2021, President Biden or-
dered airstrikes against infrastructure utilized by 
Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria in response 
to attacks against United States personnel in Iraq. 
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According to the Department of Defense’s statement 
on February 25, 2021, ‘‘the strikes destroyed mul-
tiple facilities located at a border control point used 
by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups, in-
cluding Kait’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kait’ib Sayyid 
al-Shuhada (KSS).’’. 
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose the 
sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to— 
(1) Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada; and 
(2) any foreign person that is a member, agent, 
or affiliate of, or owned or controlled by, Kata’ib 
Sayyid al-Shuhada. 
(b) SANCTIONS
DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de-
scribed in this subsection are— 
(1) sanctions applicable with respect to a for-
eign person pursuant to section 7412(b) of the Cae-
sar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 (22 U.S.C. 
8791 note); and 
(2) sanctions applicable with respect to a for-
eign person pursuant to Executive Order 13224 (50 
U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking property and 
prohibiting transactions with persons who commit, 
threaten to commit, or support terrorism). 
Æ 
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