Lebanon seeks to ease Iraq PMF tension after President Aoun’s remarks

Shafaq News/ Lebanon’s security chief, Maj. Gen. Hassan Shokeir, held talks with top Iraqi officials to defuse tensions sparked by President Joseph Aoun’s recent remarks about Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Al-Akhbar reported on Thursday.

Citing informed sources, the paper said indirect channels had already eased friction, and a direct conversation between the Lebanese and Iraqi presidents is expected to further clarify the situation.

The diplomatic strain followed Aoun’s televised comments on Tuesday, in which he rejected proposals to “replicate Iraq’s PMF model” to incorporate Hezbollah into Lebanon’s armed forces.

He clarified that while individual Hezbollah members could integrate through standard procedures, the group itself would not operate independently within the military, reaffirming that all weapons must remain under state control.

In response, Iraq’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Lebanese ambassador to formally express its “discomfort” over the president’s remarks about the PMF.