Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi held more than three hours of talks at the government palace in Baghdad with Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) head Falih al-Fayyadh on how to deal with Kataib Hezbollah, as the dispute over bringing weapons under state control escalates, an informed source told Shafaq News on Thursday.

The PMF's chief of staff, Abdul Aziz al-Mohammadawi, known as Abu Fadak, also attended, the source said.

Al-Zaidi insisted that "those who break the law must be dealt with under Iraq's laws in force," according to the source. Al-Amiri and al-Fayyadh instead proposed giving the parties involved a chance to put their affairs in order and return to negotiations to settle the weapons issue. Their proposal also called for the four-member committee negotiating with the armed factions to continue its work until an agreement is reached that ends the dispute and preserves internal stability, the source added.

The meeting came days after a planned expanded meeting between al-Zaidi and leaders of the Coordination Framework was called off on Monday over disagreements on how to handle Kataib Hezbollah. The four-member committee has also made no progress in its talks with the factions.

Other sources close to the CF told Shafaq News that some Framework parties are unhappy with al-Zaidi's escalation against Kataib Hezbollah, amid fears that a prolonged confrontation could lead other armed factions to rally behind the group and derail the negotiations on weapons.

On Wednesday, Kataib Hezbollah held al-Zaidi "fully responsible" for any attack on its positions, accusing him of helping Washington gather intelligence that it said Israel uses to strike targets inside Iraq.

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