New committee launched to centralize Iraq’s armed factions

Shafaq News- Baghdad

The Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), Iraq’s largest parliamentary bloc, has reached an understanding with Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi to form a committee tasked with consolidating weapons under state control, a political source told Shafaq News on Saturday.

The committee will be headed by al-Zaidi alongside caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri. Its mandate includes registering all weapons in a centralized state database, defining categories of armed groups, and examining options to integrate members into civilian institutions or official security forces.

On Friday, Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of Iraq’s Patriotic Shiite Movement (PSM), urged the integration of all armed factions into state-controlled institutions. He also pledged to place Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades), his movement’s main armed wing, under the authority of Iraq’s commander-in-chief if other factions move in the same direction “as quickly as possible.” Patriotic Shiite Movement

Washington has previously reiterated its opposition to the inclusion of Iran-aligned armed factions within Iraq’s future government structure, arguing that the boundary between state authority and such groups remains unclear.

Akram al-Kaabi, leader of the Iran-backed Harakat al-Nujaba, however, rejected the disarmament calls, describing the factions’ weapons as a red line that would ‘’never be surrendered.’’

Read more: Ali al-Zaidi named Iraq's prime minister: Easy nomination, harder road ahead