No commitment, no handover: Iraqi factions restate conditions on weapons

The Martyr Leaders Brigades says it will not hand over its weapons by the deadline set by Iraq’s government, placing new conditions on a process intended to put all arms under state control.

The group’s spokesman, Sheikh Kadhim al-Fartousi, said the position had been clearly conveyed to negotiating representatives of the Coordination Framework during talks with armed factions over the past two days, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. He said the brigades and other factions in the so-called Resistance Axis still wanted a plan that would protect Iraq’s security and sovereignty.

Al-Fartousi said the factions supported strengthening state authority and regulating weapons, but argued that this could not happen without addressing what they see as continuing threats. He said the groups did not trust repeated promises of a complete U.S. withdrawal, pointing to what they described as the continued presence and movement of American forces in Iraq by land and air.

“

The brigades reject handing over their weapons according to the deadline set by the Iraqi government unless the conditions they previously announced are met.

The factions’ main demands include the departure of U.S. and Turkish forces, an end to what they call Washington’s political and financial “guardianship,” the dismantling of the Peshmerga and deployment of federal forces inside the Kurdistan Region, as well as missile and air-defense systems capable of protecting Iraqi airspace.

Mehdi al-Kaabi, a leader of the al-Nujaba movement, said his group did not regard the government deadline as binding. He said any discussion of weapons handover before the factions’ conditions were met had no value, and warned that the process could not be a one-sided demand for factions to disarm without genuine guarantees for Iraq’s security and sovereignty.

“

The factions do not regard the government deadline for handing over weapons as binding.