Iraq's top Iran-backed militias agree to hand weapons to state

Two of Iraq's most powerful Iran-backed militia groups said Tuesday they would begin surrendering their weapons to state authorities, in a major test of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's drive to assert government control over the country's sprawling armed factions.

The announcements by Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Imam Ali Brigades come as Washington has conditioned defense cooperation with Baghdad on efforts to curb Iran-backed factions — and months after U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran in February exposed weaknesses in Iraq's state institutions, according to The Korea Times.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq said it had established a committee to catalogue its fighters, weapons and equipment and coordinate the handover with Iraq's armed forces command, The Korea Times reported. The group ranks among the most heavily armed of the Iranian-backed factions that operate across the country.

The Imam Ali Brigades issued a parallel statement, saying the moment had arrived "to build a strong state with full sovereignty," according to The Korea Times. Both announcements came in response to calls from Iraq's top Shiite religious authority and the Iran-aligned Coordination Framework, the country's largest political bloc.

Al-Zaidi, a 40-year-old former banker sworn in last month, has made a state monopoly on arms a cornerstone of his governing program. The Trump administration warned against allowing Iranian-linked factions to exert influence over the Iraqi government and has tied defense cooperation to progress on that front.

Not all groups embraced the shift. Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba rejected disarmament outright, framing the issue as one of Iraqi sovereignty and foreign troop presence. Those groups said they would coordinate with the Popular Mobilization Forces — the state-backed umbrella of mostly Shiite armed groups — rather than surrender weapons directly to the government, The Korea Times reported.

Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced separately that his Saraya al-Salam militia would split from his political movement and integrate into state institutions, adding further momentum to the disarmament effort.

Many Iran-backed militias draw funding from the Iraqi state budget while operating outside government authority — an arrangement al-Zaidi has pledged to end. The Popular Mobilization Forces was established in 2014 to combat the Islamic State group and has since grown into a powerful political and military force.

A ceasefire between Washington and Iran-backed armed groups was reached in April, following escalations tied to the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. Whether Tuesday's pledges translate into actual disarmament will test al-Zaidi's ability to deliver on one of his administration's most consequential commitments.