Unified Iraqi security command returns after 12 years

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq reactivated the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on Sunday, merging the Joint Operations Command (JOC), the Office of the Personal Secretary of the Commander-in-Chief, and the National Operations Center into a single body, a senior security source told Shafaq News.

Based in Baghdad’s Green Zone, the office will oversee the Defense and Interior ministries, Counter-Terrorism Service, National Intelligence Service, National Security Service, Popular Mobilization Commission, Border Ports Authority, and Defense Industries Commission.

Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief Ali Al-Zaidi appointed former Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al-Shammari to head the office earlier this week.

On July 22, a source told Shafaq News that Baghdad had abolished the JOC and transferred its functions to the restored office, though it remains unclear whether the decision also affects provincial operations commands. Iraq established the JOC in 2007 to coordinate security agencies during the Al-Qaeda insurgency, and it later directed major operations against ISIS and coordinated federal security plans across the provinces.