Iraqi PM urges armed factions to follow Al-Sadr move under state authority – Shafaq News

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi on
Wednesday welcomed Patriotic Shiite Movement (PSM) leader Muqtada Al-Sadr’s
decision to place Saraya Al-Salam, the movement’s armed wing, under state
authority, calling it an important step toward strengthening stability and
reinforcing the rule of law.

Al-Zaidi said the initiative would
support Iraq’s security institutions in carrying out their constitutional
duties and called on other armed factions to follow the same path through the
country’s official institutions, based on the principle that “the state alone
should hold the authority to monopolize arms and enforce the law.”

Earlier today, Al-Sadr announced the
formal separation of Saraya Al-Salam from the PSM, formerly known as the
Sadrist Movement, stating that its members would integrate into state
institutions “in the national interest” and in response to risks facing the
country.

Read more: Ali Al-Zaidi’s incomplete cabinet faces Iraqi armed factions test

The Shiite cleric had previously
called for all armed factions in Iraq to be integrated into state-controlled
institutions, remarks widely interpreted as directed at Iran-backed groups
operating under the Islamic Resistance in Iraq umbrella, including Kataib
Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhadaa, and Harakat al-Nujaba.
Many of those factions are formally part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a
predominantly Shiite umbrella force incorporated into the Iraqi state in 2016,
but they continue to maintain separate command structures and weapons networks
outside direct government control.

Read more: Iraq’s armed factions and disarmament debate: Unity
masks divisions