Iraq's Moqtada al-Sadr announces integration of armed group into state forces
Prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has announced the formal integration of the movement’s armed faction into the country's armed forces.
In a statement on Wednesday, Sadr, the head of the National Shia Movement, said the group is ready to dissolve Saraya al-Salam and hand it over to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Sadr said the decision was made “based on the public interest of the nation, and to avoid the dangers threatening it.”
Saraya al-Salam, also known as the Peace Brigades, was founded in 2014 following the rise of the Daesh terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.
The cleric also called on all armed groups within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to distance themselves from “partisan and sectarian systems” and hand over their weapons to the state.
Limiting arms to state institutions, he said, is essential for preserving Iraq’s sovereignty and internal stability.
Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi, also the commander-in-chief of the army, welcomed the move by the Shia movement, describing it as a responsible national stance that reinforces the rule of law.
Al-Zaidi called on all armed factions “to follow the same responsible national path and operate under the umbrella of the state and its official institutions to guarantee the protection of Iraq.”
Al-Zaidi, 40, was sworn in earlier this month as Iraq's youngest prime minister.
His government is reportedly considering a plan to establish a security ministry that would bring the PMF and other bodies under a single structure.
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