Iraqi armed factions begin to disarm as part of state plan to regulate weapons

Several factions operating under Iraq’s officially administered Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have begun handing over their weapons as part of a government plan to place all arms under state control, an Iraqi security official said Tuesday.

Lieutenant-General Saad Maan, head of the Iraqi Security Media Cell, said several factions had already begun the process while others were moving in the same direction, according to the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA).

According to Maan, the measures are part of institutional and legal arrangements aimed at regulating the status of armed formations – and their members – within the state military apparatus.

He said the initiative was aimed at strengthening the state’s authority and the rule of law, stressing that it was not aimed at any particular faction or group.

The policy applies to all weapons held outside official state institutions, regardless of who possesses them, including tribal weapons and arms not subject to existing laws and regulations, Maan said.

He also said that the PMF would “work to safeguard the rights of fighters from different factions and formations, as well as those of their families, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.”

The PMF is an official security umbrella formed in 2014 after a religious ruling by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a leading Iraqi Shia authority, which called for volunteers to fight the Daesh terrorist group.

In 2016, the PMF was formally incorporated into Iraq’s armed forces.

Maan denied that the government was preparing for a confrontation with armed factions.

“The Iraqi government is not in conflict with any formation or faction,” he said, adding that the issue was being handled as a constitutional and legal obligation related to Iraq’s security.

He stressed that placing weapons under state control “is not a project of confrontation, but one of state stability and community security.”

In June, Iraqi military spokesman Sabah al-Numan announced the establishment of a committee tasked with overseeing efforts to bring unregulated weapons under state control.

The issue remains one of Iraq’s most pressing political and security challenges, with some armed factions continuing to operate under the umbrella of the PMF while others operate independently.