Iraq is seeking to disarm Iranian-backed militias. Under Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, Baghdad says it wants the arms of the militias to be under state control. The militias know Baghdad has US backing to pressure the groups.
However, the groups will do everything possible to avoid being disarmed. Now the groups are setting their sights on the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq to try to weaken the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
How will the militias seek to prevent disarmament?
One method is claiming their weapons are “already” under state control. The militias are part of the state-backed Popular Mobilization Forces. Therefore, the groups claim that, as the PMF, they are already an official paramilitary. They claim they are essentially a national guard and therefore they don’t need to hand over weapons because the weapons are already controlled.
Another ploy the groups are using is to try to make it so the effort to disarm militias will also apply to the Kurdish Peshmerga. The autonomous Kurdistan Region has its own military, called the Peshmerga. The KRG’s role in Iraq is spelled out in the constitution of Iraq that was passed after the US 2003 invasion.
As such, the Peshmerga are an official force. Over the years, there have been attempts to reform the Peshmerga so that they are no longer affiliated with the two Kurdish political parties, the KDP and PUK. In the past, the Peshmerga 70th Division and 80th Division were essentially arms of the PUK and KDP, respectively.
The powerful Iranian-backed militia Kata'ib Hezbollah has now demanded that the Peshmerga also be disarmed. This is meant to throw a wrench into efforts to disarm them and other groups. The militia is also warning the prime minister against “provocative and irresponsible” actions, according to a report at Rudaw, a Kurdish media outlet.
“Our patience is beginning to run out regarding the provocative and irresponsible actions of the prime minister,” Kata'ib Hezbollah’s Abu Mujahid al-Assaf said. This may constitute a threat to the prime minister’s life. Rudaw noted that “Assaf also accused Zaidi of failing to understand the ‘complex circumstances’ facing Iraq and the wider region amid warnings to ‘avoid being dragged into what pleases the enemies.’”
The report added that “the statement followed the arrest of Abbas Hussein al-Yaqubi, a senior PMF commander affiliated with Harakat al-Nujaba, by an Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service unit in Dhi Qar province on Monday. The PMF later confirmed that Yaqubi had been handed over to its security directorate for legal proceedings.”
Iran's wider agenda
The use of anti-Kurdish rhetoric is aimed at dividing Iraqis so that some Iraqi Shi’ites, who back the militias, will argue that they deserve the same rights as Kurds. They will argue that their militias are similar to the Peshmerga.
The real goal here is that Iran will use the militias to do whatever is necessary to preserve its role in Iraq. Iran has sought to weaken the Kurdistan Regional Government in the past.
Recently, it attacked the office of KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. Using Kata'ib Hezbollah to demand that the Peshmerga be weakened is part of the larger Iranian agenda.