Al-Zaidi weighs sweeping PMF leadership changes
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih al-Zaidi is considering wide-ranging changes to the senior leadership of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), including its chairman and chief of staff, informed sources told Shafaq News on Tuesday.
Other senior posts held by figures linked to armed factions could be affected, with officers from the Iraqi Army and Counter-Terrorism Service, alongside figures from within the PMF, under consideration for several positions.
No final decision has been made, as al-Zaidi is still weighing the potential domestic political repercussions.
According to the sources, one objective is to shield the PMF from possible military, economic, and financial repercussions, including potential international sanctions, particularly US measures against the organization or some of its leaders, as figures linked to armed factions that Washington has repeatedly called to be dissolved continue to hold several senior positions within the organization.
The PMF was established in 2014 following a fatwa by Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to combat ISIS. Its forces fought alongside the Iraqi military and the Global Coalition and have since become a major component of Iraq's security landscape, although the role and autonomy of its factions remain politically contentious.
The discussions come amid renewed efforts to advance long-stalled legislation governing service and retirement within the PMF. On Sunday, lawmaker Falih al-Khazali, head of the Montasiroun (Victorious) parliamentary bloc, the political wing of Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada (a PMF faction), formally asked the government to place the bill on the Cabinet's agenda.
Read more: Iraq's PMF Service and Retirement Law
The legislation has been stalled since March 2025, when then-Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani withdrew it from parliament amid political disagreements that repeatedly contributed to a lack of quorum and disrupted legislative sessions. The dispute centers on provisions governing the PMF's institutional structure, service conditions, and retirement arrangements, while several leaders within the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite political parties excluding the Sadrist Movement, have attributed the delay to US interference.
At the same time, Baghdad faces a September 30 deadline to bring weapons under state control, with the State Administration Coalition (SAC), representing Iraq's main Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish political forces, warning that armed activity outside state institutions after that date "will be treated as unlawful." In contrast, Iran's Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani urged Iraqi armed factions "not to surrender their weapons for now," while cautioning against confrontation with government forces and pressing instead for a political settlement with Baghdad, an informed source told Shafaq News.
Read more: Days to disarm Iraq's factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?
