ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A powerful Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group announced on Tuesday the formation of a "central committee" to oversee procedures aimed at placing its personnel and weapons under state authority. The move by Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) follows a call by Iraq's ruling Shiite bloc to restrict arms to the state.
AAH said in a statement that its leadership has decided to form “a central committee” to oversee the implementation of arms restriction, in line with calls by Iraq’s highest Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - who has consistently urged that all weapons be brought under state control - as well as the position of the country’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework.
The committee will be “responsible for completing all requirements and procedures related to the implementation of this decision, including inventorying all personnel, weapons, vehicles, equipment, and logistical means, and linking directly to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces [Iraq’s premier].”
The statement came a day after the Coordination Framework held a regular meeting at the residence of former prime minister Haider al-Abadi (2014 - 2018), attended by newly appointed Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.
During the meeting, the alliance of Shiite parties “endorsed the initiative to restrict weapons to the state and sever the Popular Mobilization Forces' [PMF] ties with all political, partisan, and social frameworks,” the Coordination Framework said in a statement.
The statement by AAH also came a day after Hussein al-Sheihani, a politburo member of the armed group’s political wing, al-Sadiqoun Movement, told Rudaw on Monday that the group “had already handed its weapons to the Iraqi state in 2017.”
Sheihani said the weapons of the group’s 41st, 42nd, and 43rd brigades, which operate under the PMF, are stored in the umbrella entity’s “depots” and since the PMF is “state-sponsored,” those arms are therefore considered under state control.
AAH and its top commanders, including leader Qais al-Khazali, are blacklisted by the United States over links to attacks on US assets in Iraq. Khazali is also a senior member of the Coordination Framework.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibat al-Halbousi on X praised AAH’s decision to “disengage from the Popular Mobilization Forces formations, confine arms to the hands of the state.”
Meanwhile, other Iran-aligned armed groups have rejected the initiative.
Ashab al-Kahf - a pro-Iran armed group that identifies itself as part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq - said in a statement on Sunday that “claims and allegations” about Sistani’s support for limiting weapons to the state are “meant to serve falsehood.” The group added that “anyone who wants us to abandon the Resistance must bring an explicit, exclusive decree from the Marjaiya [Sistani].”
“We declare that we are fully prepared, with our fingers on the trigger,” the group said.
A senior security official in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Rudaw on Monday that factions such as Kata’ib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba “strongly oppose the initiative and are not prepared to hand over their weapons.”
Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, a key faction aligned with the Iran-led Axis of Resistance and a prominent component of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, has publicly rejected the proposal.
Firas Yasser, a member of the group’s politburo, told Rudaw that discussions about disarmament are meaningless as long as US troops remain stationed in Iraq.
Kata’ib Hezbollah, however, welcomed efforts by armed factions to transfer their weapons to the Iraqi state in a statement issued on Saturday.
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were established in 2014 after the Islamic State (ISIS) seized large parts of northern and western Iraq.
Formed in response to a fatwa issued by Sistani, the PMF initially brought together around 70 predominantly Shiite armed factions with an estimated 250,000 members.
Although the PMF is a state-funded institution, it includes factions widely believed to be linked to the Iran-led ‘Axis of Resistance.’ Since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, several of these groups have carried out attacks against alleged US targets in the region in support of Tehran, often operating through front groups under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI).