Source: Iraqi factions signal flexibility on disarmament talks
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq's powerful armed factions have shown some flexibility on bringing their weapons under state control, agreeing for the first time to negotiate the issue with a committee set up by the country's main Shiite political bloc, an informed source told Shafaq News on Wednesday.
The source said the factions had laid out a series of conditions in return for moving ahead, chief among them that any decision be made independently by Iraq, without outside pressure, “particularly from the United States.” The shift is notable: until the committee was formed, the factions had flatly rejected any talk of placing their weapons under state control and refused to discuss the matter at all.
The talks are led by a three-member committee within the Coordination Framework, the Shiite alliance that dominates parliament, made up of two former prime ministers, Nouri al-Maliki and Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, and Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Badr Organization. Al-Amiri enjoys the trust of factions on both sides of the issue, those willing to accept state control of weapons and those opposed, the source said, which has helped bring the holdouts to the table.
Read more: Tension meets dialogue as Iraq approaches September 30
The conditions
Beyond insisting the process stay free of US pressure, the factions want a legal and constitutional framework for the process to include the passage of legislation governing the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) —an umbrella of mostly Shiite armed groups formally under state authority— through parliament, according to the source. They also reject any fixed timeline, citing the danger to Iraq from military escalation in the region and along its borders with Syria and Jordan.
The factions further tie any handover to the full withdrawal of US forces and the pullout of Turkish troops from Iraqi territory, and want the appointments to the defense and interior ministries resolved and a specific state body named to receive the weapons, the source said. If those demands are met, they would commit to the plan.
Lawmaker Abu Turab al-Tamimi told Shafaq News that a US withdrawal from Iraq must be total and that the factions' conditions were legitimate, adding that information he had received indicated that Washington was responsive to Iraqi demands for a complete pullout.
Fahd al-Jabouri, a figure in the al-Hikma Movement, wrote on X that talks among the government, the Coordination Framework and the factions were advancing toward a political understanding, with a preliminary agreement beginning to take shape and a document of specific steps being prepared by the end of this month.
Read more: Iraq's September 30 weapons deadline leaves terms of disarmament unresolved
The deadline
The armed factions are among the most sensitive files facing al-Zaidi's government as a September 30 deadline nears, the date Iraq's main political forces set for bringing all weapons under state institutions, and the same day the US-led international coalition against ISIS is due to end its mission in Iraq. Some factions use that overlap to tie the future of their weapons to the departure of foreign troops.
The State Administration Coalition, which groups the leading Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish forces, declared on August 5 that weapons must be held only by the state and called groups operating outside official institutions "outlaws" who should be confronted, warning that any armed activity outside the state after September 30 would be treated under the anti-terrorism law. Security forces have since raised their readiness nationwide.
While some have signaled willingness to reorganize their ties with the state, others, including Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, have refused to give up their arms, linking any discussion to the end of the foreign military presence.
Read more: What happens to Iraq's armed factions after September 30?
