This is perhaps natural for a place that is sometimes known as the Land of the Two Rivers because of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It is the heartland of ancient Mesopotamia, the land of Ur<\/a> from whence Avraham came. As such, it is a place that has often left leaders with tough choices.<\/p>\n The issue confronting its new Prime Minister, Ali al-Zaidi, is how to control the armed groups. This refers to many armed militias, most of them backed by Iran.<\/p>\n Asa\u2019ib Ahl al-Haq is a Shi\u2019ite political party and militia in Iraq that is backed by Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cThe secretary-general of the Asa\u2019ib Ahl al-Haq movement, Qais al-Khazali, stated on Wednesday [May 27] that resistance is no longer limited to military action alone, but extends to building a strong state capable of making its sovereign decisions,\u201d Shafaq News, a Baghdad-based news agency, reported.<\/p>\n Members of Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan walk with their rifles at a mountain base in Khalifan near Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region, on March 12, 2026. (credit: YOUNES MOHAMMAD\/Middle East Images\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cAl-Khazali said in his Eid al-Adha prayer sermon in Baghdad that the military action of the resistance was a top priority when the Iraqi state was threatened,\u201d the report said. \u201cHe explained that the correct idea of resistance is embodied in building a strong state that has its own decision, sovereignty, and institutions, stressing that \u2018any resistance that does not have an integrated building project will turn into a burden on society over time.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Resistance is the word that Iran uses for its policy in the region. It is \u201cresisting\u201d the US and Israel. Its proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere are doing the same.<\/p>\n Khazali is a sanctioned terrorist by the US. In 2017, he even traveled from Iraq to Lebanon to threaten Israel alongside Hezbollah.<\/p>\n Weapons are the arms of the ‘resistance’<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Shi\u2019ite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr said his Patriotic Shi\u2019ite Movement, which has an armed group called Saraya Al-Salam, would place its arms under Iraq\u2019s state institutions. This is supposed to encourage the prime minister to move forward in pressuring the other militias.<\/p>\n Al-Sadr described the move as a step taken \u201cin the national interest,\u201d and in response to the risks facing the country, Shafaq reported.<\/p>\n The Iranian-backed militias are now speaking up.<\/p>\n \u201cAsa\u2019ib Ahl al-Haq, an Iran-backed Iraqi armed faction, on Wednesday voiced support for restricting weapons to state control following a decision by Muqtada Al-Sadr, leader of the Patriotic Shiite Movement (PSM), to place Saraya Al-Salam, the armed wing of his movement, under state authority,\u201d Shafaq reported.<\/p>\n A member of the group, Khaled Al-Saadi, who is also on the political bureau of the Sadiqoon parliamentary bloc, the political wing of Asa\u2019ib Ahl al-Haq, said: \u201cThere should be no uncontrolled weapons outside state institutions.\u201d He also praised Khazali\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n Zaidi has also backed Sadr\u2019s statement, calling it an important step toward strengthening stability and reinforcing the rule of law.<\/p>\n But not everyone is pleased. Kataib Sayyid Al-Shuhada (KSS) has rejected handing over its weapons to the government. It says the weapons are the arms of the \u201cresistance.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a8f1fb53ada4cdc2d1a9a4902a97e692.jpeg\"\/)
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