Iraqi militias pledge to hand weapons to Baghdad
Baghdad has won public disarmament pledges from two major militias, but hardline factions still reject full state control.
In 30 seconds
- Asaib Ahl al-Haq said it formed a committee to inventory fighters, weapons and equipment.
- The Imam Ali Brigades said weapons should be held only by the state.
- Kataib Hezbollah said it would coordinate with the Popular Mobilization Forces rather than surrender arms.
- Carnegie's 2017 paper identified the PMF as internally divided, not a single militia bloc.
Asaib Ahl al-Haq (Iraqi Shia armed and political movement founded after the 2003 US-led invasion) is one of the most powerful Iran-aligned factions. The Imam Ali Brigades (Iraqi Shia militia also known as Kataib al-Imam Ali) emerged during the fight against Islamic State. Ali al-Zaidi (Iraq's prime minister in 2026) has made state control of weapons a central governing pledge. The Popular Mobilization Forces (Iraq's state-backed paramilitary umbrella formed in 2014) brought many Shia militias into an official framework. Kataib Hezbollah (Iran-aligned Iraqi militia designated by the United States in 2009) rejects full surrender of arms. Harakat al-Nujaba (Iraqi Shia armed faction with close Iran links) takes a similar sovereignty-based line. The Coordination Framework (dominant Shia political alliance in Iraq's parliament) backs much of the current government. Muqtada al-Sadr (Iraqi Shia cleric and political leader) controls the Saraya al-Salam network.
Background
Carnegie's 2017 paper says the Popular Mobilization Forces grew after Islamic State seized Mosul and large parts of Iraq in 2014, when state security forces collapsed and Shia religious authority Ali al-Sistani called for volunteers to defend the country. Iraq's parliament then gave the PMF formal status in 2016, but Carnegie's analysis described a force split among factions loyal to Ali Khamenei, Ali al-Sistani and Muqtada al-Sadr. AP's 2024 background report noted that some PMF factions later attacked US forces while remaining nominally within Iraq's security apparatus.
The wider picture
Iraq remains one of the main arenas where US-Iran rivalry becomes operational rather than abstract. Iran-aligned factions give Tehran depth and deterrence; Washington sees them as a threat to personnel and regional partners. Baghdad's challenge is to avoid becoming a proxy battlefield while rebuilding enough state authority to keep armed actors from setting foreign policy by force.
Why now
The trigger is the public commitment by Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Imam Ali Brigades to begin placing weapons under state authority, following al-Zaidi's recent pledge to make state control of arms a core government test.
What happens next
Watch for verifiable inventories, command orders from Baghdad, budget changes affecting PMF factions, and any shift by Kataib Hezbollah or Harakat al-Nujaba. The most important signal will be whether heavy weapons and operational decisions actually move under the prime minister's chain of command.
What to do
Belgian readers should not expect an immediate domestic impact. The practical takeaway is to follow Iraq as a risk indicator for Middle East escalation, energy volatility and EU external-security commitments. For Belgian institutions and companies with regional exposure, the difference between symbolic and real disarmament matters more than the announcement itself.
How we got here
- 2014-06
Islamic State seized Mosul; Iraqi security forces collapsed in parts of the country and volunteer mobilisation accelerated.
- 2016-11
Iraq's parliament passed legislation giving the Popular Mobilization Forces formal status within the security architecture.
- 2024-02-08
A US strike in Baghdad killed a Kataib Hezbollah commander, highlighting the PMF's ambiguous state and non-state status.
- 2026-05-15
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi pledged to restrict weapons to state forces in his governing programme.
- 2026-06-02
Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Imam Ali Brigades announced steps to place weapons under Iraqi state authority.
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