Iraq's Badr Organization that is led by Hadi al-Amiri has rejected the government's attempts to using force to disarm armed factions.
The organization’s stance reflects growing disagreement within the political parties of the Coordination Framework over the future of weapons held by armed groups and their relationship with the state.
In a statement issued on Friday, head of the political bureau of the Badr Organization Mohammed Naji said the group opposes any threat to use force to seize the weapons of the factions, warning that raising the issue of disarmament in this manner could lead to tensions and internal strife.
Naji argued that the campaign to place all weapons exclusively under state control is viewed by the organization as coming under pressure from the United States.
"We will not allow the Prime Minister or anyone else to reach this level in dealing with our brothers in the resistance, because that would open the door to internal discord, the primary beneficiaries of which would be the US, the Zionist entity, and those lying in wait for us,” said Naji.
The Organization's position comes at a time when the Iraqi government is seeking to reinforce the principle that all weapons should be held solely by state institutions, amid increasing debate among political parties and armed factions on how this policy should be implemented and the timetable for doing so.
Writer and journalist Montadhar Naser believes that the issue of placing all weapons under state control has exposed contradictions within the forces that make up the Coordination Framework, with divisions extending even into some of the parties and factions themselves.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said the dispute is not limited to how weapons should be handled. It is also linked to defining the nature of Iraq’s relationship with both the US and Iran, and to determining the extent to which security and military decision-making can remain independent of armed groups that are connected to external actors.
The debate on the issue of weapons coincided with another unannounced visit to Baghdad by Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), during which he met with a number of leaders of the Coordination Framework.
The visit sparked speculation about the nature of Qaani's meetings and whether he had also met Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.
Iraqi sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Tehran wants to keep the issue of factional weapons effectively unresolved, while potentially transferring nominal control of those arms to the government.
According to the same sources, this proposal may be acceptable to some leaders within the Coordination Framework, but it is not favored by the relevant Iraqi state authorities.
The disagreement places the government before a sensitive political and security test. Any attempt to impose disarmament by force could trigger a confrontation with factions that possess significant political and security influence.
Conversely, postponing the issue or settling for merely symbolic measures could undermine the state's efforts to strengthen its monopoly over military and security decision-making.
