Kataib Hezbollah sets conditions on Iraq weapons talks – Shafaq News

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Kataib Hezbollah set three conditions for any understanding
with the Iraqi government over the weapons held by armed factions, including a
full withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, according to a statement by the group’s
security official.

Abu Mujahid al-Assaf said the first condition for any
agreement on the factions’ weapons is the complete withdrawal of US forces from
Iraqi territory and airspace, with guarantees against their return, alongside
“freeing the country’s political and economic decisions from American
influence.” The second condition, he said, was the withdrawal of Turkish forces
from northern Iraq, while the third was the dissolution of the Peshmerga, the
official armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Al-Assaf sharply criticized Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who
took office in May 2026, saying the factions had waited “more than a hundred
days” for him to address the internal, regional, and international pressure
over the weapons issue. He accused al-Zaidi of ignoring advice from allied
political forces and instead heeding other parties and the US envoy Tom
Barrack.

Read more: Days to disarm Iraq’s factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?

Al-Assaf said authorities of raiding homes and intimidating
the families of faction members, including those killed or wounded, warning
that the group’s patience “is starting to run out.” He stated that
the group could respond in kind and called on senior figures and influential
leaders to intervene and “correct the security disorder” he attributed to the
prime minister.

The escalation comes as the government steps up efforts to
curb the influence of Iran-aligned armed factions, including through a
committee formed to address the situation in Jurf al-Sakhr, a depopulated
strategic area north of Babil province long held by armed factions. The
committee, comprising the interior, justice and agriculture ministries and the
PMF Commission, has begun fieldwork in Jurf al-Sakhr, where Kataib Hezbollah
controls security in parts of the area.

Read more: Jurf Al-Sakhar: A decade on, Iraq’s displaced still barred from return

Earlier this month, Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds
Force, met leaders of the Coordination Framework, the Iran-aligned Shiite
alliance that dominates parliament, and armed factions. Shafaq News sources
said Qaani urged the factions not to disarm for now, warned them against
sliding into armed confrontation with the government, and called for a
political settlement.

Iraq’s four top state authorities, the president, the prime
minister, the parliament speaker, and the head of the Supreme Judicial Council,
reaffirmed at a meeting on Monday that weapons must be held solely by the
state, linking progress to the start of an international coalition withdrawal
and the strengthening of Iraqi armed forces. That position comes about six
weeks before a September 30 deadline set by the main political forces to end
armed activity outside the official framework, after which the State
Administration Coalition said, on August 5, any armed activity would be treated
under the anti-terrorism law.

Read more: What happens to Iraq’s armed factions after September 30?

*Kataib Hezbollah is an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed faction
that operates within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the
state-sanctioned coalition of mostly Shiite armed groups formally attached to
Iraq’s security establishment.