Iraq shifts security from army to Interior Ministry
Shafaq News- Saladin
Iraq's Interior Ministry is moving ahead with plans to assume responsibility for internal security across the country's provinces, with Saladin expected to make the transition within weeks or months, Senior Deputy Interior Minister Hussein al-Awadi said on Monday.
After ISIS seized large parts of Iraq in 2014, army units and other military formations took on expanded security roles in cities and districts across several provinces. Baghdad has since pursued a gradual transfer of day-to-day security responsibilities to the Interior Ministry and local police, allowing army units to return to their primary military duties.
The Interior Ministry has begun assuming responsibility for security in a number of provinces, with logistical preparations underway to complete the transfer elsewhere, including in al-Anbar, Nineveh, and Baghdad, as part of a plan to finish handing over city security duties nationwide by 2026.
“The ministry is determined to strengthen security across all provinces without giving a fixed date for individual transfers,” Al-Awadi told reporters during a visit to Saladin province, adding that the ministry had shifted “from confronting terrorism to confronting crime.”
Weapons
Al-Awadi said the ministry had so far registered about six million weapons as part of the government's drive to regulate firearms and restrict their possession to legally authorized state institutions, with the process continuing in the coming months.
Read more: Iraq factions resist disarmament as coalition exit nears
Drugs and Border Crossings
On narcotics, Al-Awadi said the General Directorate for Narcotics Control had carried out operations beyond Iraq's borders and at sea, including in Saudi Arabia “using advanced tracking equipment,” and a further significant operation would take place within days.
Al-Awadi said some border crossings had been fitted with modern equipment, and the remaining crossings would be equipped in the coming weeks.
Read more: The Smuggler's Almanac: Iraq's war against narco-innovation
