ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s Khadamat Alliance on Tuesday rejected demands issued by Iran-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah for the disarmament of armed groups, including the dissolution of the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmarga forces, denouncing the group’s position as a threat to stability and contrary to Iraq’s constitution.
Shibl al-Zayd, head of the Khadamat Alliance, framed the circulation of weapons outside state control, given the presence of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), as “a real threat to civil peace,” warning “of real risks of using weapons in internal battles, especially with the absence and end of” American and other foreign military forces “against whom the weapons were directed,” in response to remarks by senior security official of Kata'ib Hezbollah Abu Mujahid al-Assaf regarding the latter’s disarmament.
He called on lawmakers to adopt and strengthen the law governing the PMF, an umbrella group representing a number of Iran-backed Shia paramilitary groups operating within Iraq, while maintaining its ideological character and ensuring that weapons are held by the state.
The disagreement comes as PM Ali al-Zaidi’s government seeks to consolidate weapons and security decisions under state authority, with September 30 set as the disarmament deadline, coinciding with the scheduled departure of US forces from Iraq.
Khadamat Alliance, which serves as a decisive political force within Iraq's ruling Shiite Coordination Framework, voiced their position after Assaf on Tuesday set three conditions for the group’s cooperation for disarmament.
The stipulations include the complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, including its airspace; the removal of US influence over Iraqi political and economic decisions; and the withdrawal of US forces from the Kurdistan Region and dissolution of the Peshmerga forces.
The dispute pits the government’s push to exercise sovereignty and centralize control over weapons, against demands from powerful Iran-aligned factions demanding that disarmament be tied to the departure of foreign forces, going as far as to push for the removal of local Kurdistan Region security forces. Kata'ib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba have been among the factions opposing efforts to bring all weapons under direct state control.
Kata'ib Hezbollah’s latest demands include a direct warning to PM Zaidi. Assaf said the group’s patience was running out over what he called the prime minister’s “provocative and irresponsible” actions.
“Our patience is beginning to run out regarding the provocative and irresponsible actions of the prime minister,” Assaf said, adding that the group was waiting for senior political figures to correct what he called the security “deviation” caused by Zaidi.
Assaf also accused Zaidi of failing to understand the “complex circumstances” facing Iraq and the wider region amid warnings to “avoid being dragged into what pleases the enemies.”
The statement followed the arrest of Abbas Hussein al-Yaqubi, a senior PMF commander affiliated with Harakat al-Nujaba, by an Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service unit in Dhi Qar province on Monday. The PMF later confirmed that Yaqubi had been handed over to its security directorate for legal proceedings.
The PMF, an umbrella of mostly Shiite paramilitary groups, was established in 2014 after a call from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to fight Islamic State militants and was later formally incorporated into Iraq’s security structure.
