Shafaq News-Baghdad
Armed factionsdeclared their intention to join Iraq's formal state structure and conditioningintegration on storing weapons in dedicated separate facilities, kept apartfrom official security arsenals, a government source told Shafaq News onSunday.
The factionscited two main reasons: the absence of formal guarantees against future legalprosecution, and the continued presence of US forces in Iraq, whose withdrawalis scheduled for the end of 2026 under a bilateral security agreement.
Legislationgoverning the factions' integration, financial entitlements, and internaladministrative structures is also required before the process can advance, thesource said. Draft laws are expected to be prepared for submission to theCouncil of Ministers before referral to parliament.
: Iraq to place armed factions' weapons under state control: What we know so far
TheCoordination Framework, the broad Shiite political alliance that dominatesIraq's parliament, has backed Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to take the necessarysteps to safeguard national interests, backing both the weapons monopolyproject and severing the PMF from political and partisan affiliations.
Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali have formed committees to oversee the inventory,transfer, and handover of equipment under the supervision of thecommander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Sarayaal-Salam, the armed wing of Muqtada al-Sadr's Patriotic Shiite Movement,preceded both in announcing its integration into state institutions.
KataibHezbollah welcomed centralization of arms under government oversight whilesignaling it would not disarm, instead proposing to purchase weapons fromdisarming factions. Harakat al-Nujaba Secretary-General Akram al-Kaabidescribed disarmament as a red line that would not be abandoned "even atthe cost of lives."
TheCoordination Framework remains internally divided over a US proposal linkingthe expansion of American-led investment projects in Iraq to progress on theweapons file. The process may ultimately hinge on factors beyond Baghdad'scontrol: Mukhtar al-Moussawi, a member of parliament's Foreign RelationsCommittee from the Shiite Badr bloc, told Shafaq News on Saturday that the fateof Iraq's armed factions is closely tied to any potential US-Iran agreement,warning that current moves are temporary arrangements that could take anentirely different form once the direction of Washington-Tehran relationsbecomes clear.
: How the US pushed Iraq's armed factions toward disarmament
