Iraq Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who is in New York City for the UN General Assembly, “pledged to disarm his country’s Iran-backed militias by June 2027,” The New York Times reported.
This is concerning because it essentially kicks the can down the road when it comes to militia disarmament.
The new developments regarding the militias come as the US prepares to leave Iraq on September 30. Zaidi wants to restructure the US relationship and make it strategic. Iraq is being pressured to cut off Iran amid US sanctions.
Zaidi has said there might be a 90-day period in which the militias stop their attacks, and once that ends, they will hand over arms. This creates a lot of variables that can go wrong.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Zaidi “to discuss the future of the US-Iraq partnership,” the US Department of State reported. “The secretary and prime minister agreed on the importance of Iraq dismantling terrorist militias, preventing attacks from Iraqi territory, and fully exercising its sovereignty.”
Zaidi’s office on Tuesday said he had “reiterated the government’s determination to fulfill its sovereign responsibilities and move forward with measures to ensure that all arms remain under state authority, in accordance with constitutional and legal principles.”
Iraqi commander calls for disarmament of YBS Yazidi armed group
Meanwhile, the Iraqi army’s commander of ground forces, Qassim al-Mohammedi, called for the Yazidi militia – the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) – to disarm, which it last week agreed to do.
“All non-Iraqi armed men must leave the area, because this isn’t their area of operation, and their presence cannot be accepted,” he told the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA).
The goal is to stabilize Sinjar. It comes as the Kurdish Peshmerga also announced unification this week.
Iran-backed militias have infiltrated Iraq’s security and political landscape since the US invasion in 2003. Many operate within the state-backed paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), retaining separate leadership structures and close relationships with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The major Iran-aligned groups include Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat al-Nujaba, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Kataib Imam Ali, and several smaller factions.
Some of the militias also operate as part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. They have carried out hundreds of attacks in Iraq, targeting US forces and the autonomous Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.
They have also attacked Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and other countries. The militias have about 100,000 members.
The US has designated many of the militias as terrorist groups. Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada are currently designated both Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), according to the US Treasury Department.
Kataib Hezbollah has been an FTO since 2009, and Asaib Ahl al-Haq has been designated as such since 2020. Badr, which is also the largest, is the only militia that has not been designated.