Speaker Al-Halbousi reaffirms sovereign Iraqi arms initiative
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq’s drive to bring all weapons under state control is a domestic issue with no foreign involvement, Parliament Speaker Haibet al-Halbousi said Friday.
Speaking at the eighth Baghdad Dialogue conference, organized by the Iraqi Institute for Dialogue, al-Halbousi pointed to broad political agreement on the principle, including among the heads of the country’s four top state authorities and leaders of the main political blocs.
Iraq’s ruling State Administration Coalition (SAC) previously set September 30 as the deadline for ending armed activity outside state institutions, with violations afterward subject to legal action.
Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of Iraq’s most powerful Iran-aligned armed factions, recently handed over weapons from a base south of Baghdad to state authorities.
Read more: Iraq's September deadline undercuts armed factions' case for weapons
Al-Halbousi also addressed Jurf al-Sakhar, known as Jurf al-Nasr, a strategically located area in Babil province that has remained largely inaccessible to about 100,000 people displaced since it was retaken from the Islamic State in 2014.
“The government has ordered a security committee to review the status of displaced people,” al-Halbousi noted, adding that its work would cover all disputed areas rather than focus solely on Jurf al-Sakhar.
The committee will also examine the status of property owners in the district and determine the appropriate course of action.
