Iraqi Armed Factions Reject Weapons Handover as US Withdrawal Deadline Nears

Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework has reached an apparent deadlock with armed factions that refuse to surrender their weapons as the Sept. 30 deadline for the final US withdrawal approaches.

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preserving the Popular Mobilization Forces as a national body that cannot be compromised

A three-member committee created by the Framework has so far failed to secure a breakthrough. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government had hoped the date would mark both the departure of US forces and the transfer of factional arsenals to government control. That plan now faces resistance from groups that reject any final or fixed deadline for handing over, restricting, disarming or freezing weapons held outside state control.

Harakat al-Nujaba, Kataib Hezbollah and other factions have previously rejected demands to surrender their arsenals. They say their weapons are ideological and are not confined within Iraq’s national borders. Ali al-Asadi, head of Nujaba’s Political Council, reaffirmed what he called the “sanctity” of the resistance’s weapons and the need to preserve the Popular Mobilization Forces as a national body.

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sanctity of the resistance’s weapons

In a post on X, Asadi also repeated Nujaba’s refusal to participate in the political process. He said the movement would remain alongside the people and carry their concerns until “comprehensive change is achieved,” including sovereignty, security, prosperity, economic independence from American domination and domestic stability.

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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.

The government has answered through Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Numan said no force or regional circumstance could break a state whose communities rallied around its institutions. He also warned of what he called “a flood of alarmism” from platforms financed with suspicious funds as the withdrawal 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.