ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two powerful Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups with links to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) are refusing to disarm, citing the continued US military presence in the country, representatives of the factions told Rudaw on Wednesday, despite a government push to restrict arms to the state and disengage political and armed groups from the PMF.
“We will not hand over our weapons and will remain outside the framework of the government's initiative,” Kadhim al-Fartousi, spokesperson for the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada armed group, said, attributing the decision to the continued presence of US forces in Iraq.
“The [American] occupier is still on our land, we cannot lay down our weapons,” Fartousi stated, adding, “Our government lacks the capability to expel the occupier and has no radars or air defense systems. We must protect ourselves!”
In his inaugural address before the parliament in mid-May, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi vowed security reform, including through “confining weapons under state control,” adding that he would enhance the capabilities of security forces and consolidate citizens’ “confidence in democracy.”
On Wednesday, Zaidi ordered the formation of a committee to “develop the appropriate mechanisms for implementing procedures for the disengagement [of political and armed groups] from the Popular Mobilization Forces [PMF] and restrict arms to the hands of the state within the next two days.”
The PMF was established in 2014 during the Islamic State group (ISIS) blitz, which saw the group seize control of large parts of Iraq’s north and west.
Created in response to a religious edict, fatwa, by Iraq’s highest Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the PMF was initially an umbrella organization of roughly 70 predominantly Shiite armed groups, with approximately 250,000 members.
While it is a state‑funded institution, the PMF notably includes factions widely believed to overlap with the Iran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ which have, since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, carried out attacks against alleged US targets in the region in support of Tehran, often operating through shadow groups under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI).
The IRI’s core overlap within the PMF includes the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Kata’ib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada armed groups.
Firas Yasser, a politburo member of the Nujaba armed group, told Rudaw on Wednesday that the Zaidi-led government’s initiative targets political affiliations.
“The matter, as they [Iraqi government] say, is about severing political ties and has nothing to do with the arms of the resistance [groups],” Yasser said, adding that “this issue is not new, because the PMF is currently tied to the commander in chief of armed forces [Iraq’s premier].”
He further noted that the IRI “rejects” disarmament for the time being, pointing to what he described as “US efforts aimed at disbanding the PMF,” and claiming that Washington has “sent multiple messages to political leaders” to that end.
Malik Mohammed contributed to this article from Erbil, Kurdistan Region.
