Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's effort to place all weapons under state control will apply only to factions affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a predominantly Shiite umbrella force incorporated into the Iraqi state in 2016, with no plans to integrate armed groups from outside the organization, a senior security official noted on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters, Qais Al-Muhammadawi, head of the committee responsible for disengagement and restricting weapons to state control, said Iraq is moving to end the association of weapons with political or religious entities, stressing that all formations within the PMF will ultimately fall under a unified command structure linked exclusively to the state.

The process, he explained, is being carried out through coordination between the Iraqi military and the groups that possess weapons, emphasizing that efforts to restrict arms to state control should not become a source of internal political disputes.

In a separate security development, Al-Muhammadawi revealed that Iraqi authorities had thwarted operations targeting neighboring countries, without providing further details. Iraq, he stressed, will not allow its territory to be used to launch attacks against any neighboring state.

Read more: How the US pushed Iraq's armed factions toward disarmament, and who is still pushing back