ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Wednesday praised influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s decision to separate his armed faction, Saraya al-Salam, from his political movement and integrate it into state institutions, calling on other armed groups to follow suit.
Zaidi commended Sadr’s “responsible national position” to integrate his forces into state structures under control of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces - the Iraqi premier - “in support of state institutions and the consolidation of state sovereignty and the rule of law,” according to a statement from Zaidi’s office.
The statement came hours after Sadr, leader of the National Shiite Movement, announced a “total and absolute separation” of Saraya al-Salam from his movement and “their full integration into the state.”
Sadr said the move was based on his commitment to the “public interest of the homeland” and the need to avert the “imminent dangers threatening our country.”
Founded in 2014, Saraya al-Salam is widely seen as the successor to the Mahdi Army, which fought US-led coalition forces following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s Baath regime in 2003.
“We call on all armed factions to follow the same responsible national path and operate under the umbrella of the state,” Zaidi said, according to his office.
Most Iraqi Shiite armed factions operate under the state-sponsored Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), established in 2014 after Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for volunteers to fight the Islamic State (ISIS).
While opposing the disbandment of the PMF, Sistani has repeatedly stressed the importance of limiting weapons to state control. In April 2020, four factions loyal to him formally separated from the PMF and joined the Iraqi Army.
However, other Shiite factions, many aligned with members of the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework, have resisted integrating fully into Iraq’s formal security institutions. They have cited a 2016 law recognizing the PMF as an official force, as well as concerns over creating a potential security vacuum.
Although the PMF is officially funded by the Iraqi state, several factions within it are widely believed to overlap with the Iran-led Axis of Resistance.
Since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, factions operating under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have carried out attacks targeting alleged US-linked sites in Iraq and the wider region in support of Tehran.
In early April, the group claimed responsibility for more than 750 attacks against alleged US-linked targets since the start of the conflict. Those attacks, however, have declined significantly in recent weeks.
Despite being part of the PMF, Saraya al-Salam has reportedly not participated in the attacks. Sadr has long been at odds with rival Iran-aligned factions, accusing them of serving foreign interests.
In his Wednesday statement, Sadr expressed hope that “all formations of the Hashd [Popular Mobilization Forces] detach themselves from partisan and sectarian commands, especially after the [other] factions hand over their weapons to the State, just as we advised them to do years ago.”