Iraq’s top judge says armed factions will cooperate on state weapons control, but key pro-Iran groups resist full disarmament while US troops remain.
BAGHDAD: The head of Iraq’s highest judicial body said on Saturday that leaders of armed factions have agreed to cooperate on the state’s monopoly on weapons.
Faiq Zidan, head of the Supreme Judicial Council, thanked “faction leaders for heeding his advice to coordinate together to enforcing the rule of law, restrict weapons to state control, and transition to political action after the national need for military action has ceased”.
However, the powerful Kataeb Hezbollah group said it would only discuss giving up arms when foreign troops leave the country.
“The resistance is a right, and its weapons will remain in the hands of its fighters,” the group said in a statement.
Leaders of three other pro-Iran factions designated by Washington as terrorist groups also said it is time to restrict weapons to state control.
They stopped short of committing to disarm, a long-standing US demand.
These groups include Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which won 27 seats in November’s general elections.
Its leader, Qais al-Khazali, a key figure in the ruling Shiite alliance, said “we believe” in “the slogan to restrict weapons to the state”, and “we are now part of the state”.
Two other groups, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya and Kataeb Imam Ali, said on Friday it is time to “limit weapons to the state”.
After Iraq’s elections, the United States demanded the new government exclude six groups it designates as terrorists and move to dismantle them.
Some of these groups have increased their presence in the new parliament and are members of the Coordination Framework.
The blacklisted groups are part of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a former paramilitary alliance now integrated into the armed forces.
They have developed a reputation for sometimes acting on their own and are part of the Tehran-backed “axis of resistance”.
These factions have called for the withdrawal of US troops deployed as part of an anti-jihadist coalition and have launched attacks against them.
