2026-06-03T12:44:28+00:00
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Shafaq News- Baghdad
Around 35,000 members of Iraqi armed factions will be absorbed into
state security and military institutions in exchange for surrendering their
weapons, a political source told Shafaq News Agency on Wednesday, describing
the plan as a major step that could reshape the country’s armed landscape.
The proposal, discussed during the most recent Shiite Coordination
Framework meeting, was put forward by Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief Ali
al-Zaidi. It lays out the distribution of positions across the army, police,
and the Counter Terrorism Service, while setting a three-month deadline for
other armed groups to decide whether to join the process.
“Authorities are preparing enforcement measures for factions that fail
to comply within the deadline, including possible legal and security
consequences,” the source added, noting that financing for the large-scale
absorption remains under review, with internal borrowing among the options
being considered.
The initiative builds on earlier integration steps, including the
absorption of roughly 15,000 Saraya al-Salam members, the armed wing of Iraq’s
Patriotic Shiite Movement (PSM-Sadrist), led by Muqtada al-Sadr, who previously
ordered the dissolution of the forces, leaving around 20,000 positions
available under the current framework.
Similarly, Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) and Kataib Imam Ali, two of Iraq’s
most powerful Iran-aligned armed factions, established internal central
committees tasked with implementing their disengagement from Popular
Mobilization Forces structures and transferring weapons, personnel, and
equipment to state authorities.
Meanwhile, Ashab al-Kahf, one of Iraq’s prominent clandestine armed
groups, rejected outright any political calls for factions to surrender their
weapons, dismissing arguments invoking the supreme Shia religious authority in
support of disarmament as unfounded. Kataib Hezbollah, in turn, backed efforts
to centralize arms under government oversight while signaling it would not
disarm.
Read more: Is Iraq closer to restricting weapons to the state?