Houthi Escalation Backfires in Taiz, on Yemen’s Western Coast

Iraq’s plan to pair the final US withdrawal with a formal transfer of armed factions’ weapons to state control is running into resistance, threatening to overshadow preparations for a Sept. 30 celebration of “Sovereignty Day.”

A three-member committee established by the Shiite Coordination Framework has failed to reach a breakthrough with the factions. The government of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had hoped the withdrawal date would also mark the handover of factional arsenals, but negotiations now appear stuck.

The armed groups reject the idea of a final deadline for handing over, restricting, disarming or freezing weapons held outside state control. Harakat al-Nujaba has articulated that position, while former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri have also said there is no fixed timetable. Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba have previously rejected demands to surrender their arsenals, arguing that their weapons are ideological and not confined within national borders.

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This approach is what keeps us alongside our people, experiencing what they experience, carrying their concerns and working to fulfill their demands.

Ali al-Asadi, head of al-Nujaba’s Political Council, said the movement would continue defending what he called the “sanctity” of the resistance’s weapons against regional risks and threats. After visiting senior figures involved in the Coordination Framework’s political process, he reaffirmed support for preserving the Popular Mobilization Forces as “a national body that cannot be compromised.” He also repeated al-Nujaba’s refusal to participate in the political process, saying, “This approach is what keeps us alongside our people, experiencing what they experience, carrying their concerns and working to fulfill their demands.”

The government has answered with a message about state authority. Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said, “No force in the world and no regional circumstances can break a state whose people, in all their components and communities, rally around its institutions.” He also warned against what he called a “flood of alarmism” as the Sept. 30 deadline approaches.

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No force in the world and no regional circumstances can break a state whose people, in all their components and communities, rally around its institutions.