Kataib Hezbollah sets conditions on Iraq weapons talks
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Kataib Hezbollah set three conditions for any understanding with the Iraqi government over the weapons held by armed factions, including a full withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, according to a statement by the group's security official.
Abu Mujahid al-Assaf said the first condition for any agreement on the factions’ weapons is the complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraqi territory and airspace, with guarantees against their return, alongside “freeing the country's political and economic decisions from American influence.” The second condition, he said, was the withdrawal of Turkish forces from northern Iraq, while the third was the dissolution of the Peshmerga, the official armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Al-Assaf sharply criticized Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who took office in May 2026, saying the factions had waited “more than a hundred days” for him to address the internal, regional, and international pressure over the weapons issue. He accused al-Zaidi of ignoring advice from allied political forces and instead heeding other parties and the US envoy Tom Barrack.
Read more: Days to disarm Iraq's factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?
Al-Assaf said authorities of raiding homes and intimidating the families of faction members, including those killed or wounded, warning that the group's patience "is starting to run out." He stated that the group could respond in kind and called on senior figures and influential leaders to intervene and “correct the security disorder” he attributed to the prime minister.
The escalation comes as the government steps up efforts to curb the influence of Iran-aligned armed factions, including through a committee formed to address the situation in Jurf al-Sakhr, a depopulated strategic area north of Babil province long held by armed factions. The committee, comprising the interior, justice and agriculture ministries and the PMF Commission, has begun fieldwork in Jurf al-Sakhr, where Kataib Hezbollah controls security in parts of the area.
Read more: Jurf Al-Sakhar: A decade on, Iraq's displaced still barred from return
Earlier this month, Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force, met leaders of the Coordination Framework, the Iran-aligned Shiite alliance that dominates parliament, and armed factions. Shafaq News sources said Qaani urged the factions not to disarm for now, warned them against sliding into armed confrontation with the government, and called for a political settlement.
Iraq's four top state authorities, the president, the prime minister, the parliament speaker, and the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, reaffirmed at a meeting on Monday that weapons must be held solely by the state, linking progress to the start of an international coalition withdrawal and the strengthening of Iraqi armed forces. That position comes about six weeks before a September 30 deadline set by the main political forces to end armed activity outside the official framework, after which the State Administration Coalition said, on August 5, any armed activity would be treated under the anti-terrorism law.
Read more: What happens to Iraq's armed factions after September 30?
*Kataib Hezbollah is an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed faction that operates within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the state-sanctioned coalition of mostly Shiite armed groups formally attached to Iraq's security establishment.
