Iraq targets militia power base with sweeping weapons controls
BAGHDAD – Iraqi security forces are stepping up operations against armed groups and tightening controls over weapons and drones ahead of a September 30 deadline for bringing all arms under state authority, in the most extensive campaign yet by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government to rein in militia power.
Security agencies have carried out pre-emptive operations in Baghdad, Babil and other southern provinces in recent days, seizing hundreds of drones and arresting members of several armed factions, according to a senior Iraqi security official.
The operations come as the government faces growing pressure to enforce its demand that armed groups surrender weapons or bring them under the authority of state institutions, while avoiding a confrontation with powerful factions that retain political, military and economic influence.
The campaign has already produced a series of significant measures.
The Interior Ministry said on Monday it had shut down 71 offices falsely claiming affiliation with the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), the state-sponsored umbrella organisation of mostly Shiite paramilitary groups.
It also said 119 weapons shops had been closed this year for regulatory violations or expired licences and that authorities had seized 49 drones.
Major General Miqdad Miri, head of the ministry’s relations and media department, said authorities had also compiled a national database containing information on roughly six million firearms across Iraq, marking the first public disclosure of the scale of the state’s weapons-registration effort.
The database is part of a national weapons-control programme launched in January 2023 under a committee established by a 2018 National Security Council resolution. More than 500,000 firearms have so far been registered by citizens and more than 160,000 possession and carrying permits issued, Miri said.
Authorities have seized 21,224 firearms, tracked more than 143,000 stolen weapons and transferred more than 55,000 firearms previously held by civilian ministries into Interior Ministry custody.
The authorities have also recorded more than 277,000 firearms handed over to Iraq by coalition forces and are monitoring weapons held by private security companies, tribal groups and other security organisations.
The campaign is extending to other forms of weaponry. Miri said 49 drones had been seized this year and warned that any drone operated outside official frameworks would be considered a terrorist threat.
The warning reflects the growing importance of drones in the arsenal of Iran-aligned factions, which have used them and other weapons in attacks across Iraq and the wider region.
In one of the latest security operations, a joint force from the Counterterrorism Service and the Intelligence Department arrested a three-member cell in Babil province south of Baghdad last Friday.
The raid uncovered advanced drones that the cell was allegedly preparing to use in attacks outside Iraq, the senior security official said. The official also said the group had been in direct contact with Iranian figures involved in developing and conducting drone attacks.
Government spokesman Haider al-Aboudi confirmed the operation, saying the suspects were affiliated with armed factions and that the joint intelligence and security effort had disrupted the planned attack during its preparation.
The operation came amid heightened security across Iraq. Authorities recently raised the national security alert and combat readiness levels and ordered tighter searches of civilian and military vehicles at checkpoints.
The security measures followed heightened tensions after Iran-aligned Iraqi factions targeted oil facilities in Saudi Arabia last month, prompting Saudi Arabia, with US support, to carry out airstrikes on their positions in Iraq.
The episode has sharpened the pressure on Baghdad to demonstrate that armed groups cannot use Iraqi territory to attack neighbouring states.
Saudi Arabia and the United States have both been closely watching Iraq’s efforts to bring weapons under state control. For Baghdad, the campaign is tied not only to domestic security but also to its relations with regional partners and Washington, including questions surrounding Iraq’s security arrangements after the withdrawal of US forces and prospects for foreign investment.
The September 30 deadline is now at the centre of the dispute.
The State Administration Coalition, which brings together Iraq’s main political forces, reaffirmed the need for weapons to be held by the state and warned that armed activity outside official institutions after the deadline would be dealt with under the Anti-Terrorism Law.
Some factions have signalled a willingness to change their relationship with the state.
Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali, both designated as terrorist organisations by the United States, have announced that they will end their affiliation with the PMF. The Sadrist movement has made a similar announcement.
Other powerful factions have rejected the government’s demands.
Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba, both designated by Washington as terrorist organisations, have refused to surrender their military capabilities. Kataib Hezbollah leader Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi recently reiterated that the group would retain its weapons and continue developing its arsenal.
Sources said remaining factions had proposed freezing their weapons for two years until the outcome of the US-Iran conflict becomes clearer. Baghdad rejected the proposal and said it remained committed to the September 30 deadline.
The PMF has also moved to distance itself from the 71 offices closed by the Interior Ministry, saying they had no connection to the organisation and were operated by people falsely claiming PMF affiliation.
It said its General Directorate of Security and Discipline was monitoring such cases under the supervision of the Permanent Committee for Weapons Control and would take legal and administrative action against anyone exploiting the PMF’s name.
The government’s broader weapons campaign is designed to establish a clearer distinction between arms held legally by the state and weapons controlled by political or armed organisations.
Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said the judiciary would take a tough approach towards anyone holding unauthorised weapons, pointing to Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zidan’s position that activity outside state authority constitutes terrorism.
Askari said the threat posed by unauthorised weapons had narrowed in recent months because of changing domestic and regional conditions. He also argued that armed groups no longer enjoyed the same level of open support because some of their objectives conflicted with the constitution and government policy.
Arguments for delaying the weapons handover, he said, should be addressed diplomatically rather than through security channels.
The campaign nevertheless puts the government in a delicate position. Iraq’s armed factions are not simply military organisations: many are embedded in political structures and have supporters across sections of society, while some retain substantial economic and institutional influence.
That makes an outright attempt to dismantle them potentially destabilising.
The government’s response has therefore combined targeted security operations with administrative measures intended to restrict the infrastructure supporting unauthorised armed activity.
Closing fake PMF offices, regulating arms shops, registering millions of firearms and restricting drones all serve the same broader objective: reducing the ability of armed actors to maintain autonomous power outside state institutions.
The approach is also intended to signal to Iraq’s neighbours and international partners that Baghdad is seeking to reclaim control over decisions involving the use of force.
But the effectiveness of the campaign will ultimately depend on whether the state applies its rules to powerful factions with the same force it applies to unauthorised weapons holders and smaller groups.