PMF Official Says Armed Groups' Weapons Will Be Regulated Under Baghdad

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Armed groups in Iraq will not surrender their weapons to the federal government but will instead have them regulated under state authority, a senior Popular Mobilization Forces official told Kurdistan24, drawing a distinction between disarmament and the process Baghdad is seeking to implement as the US-led coalition prepares to end its military mission.

Muhannad al-Aqabi, director of military media at the Popular Mobilization Commission, addressed the weapons issue, the coalition withdrawal and security threats against the Kurdistan Region in an exclusive interview on Sunday, Sept. 20.

Al-Aqabi said the PMF supported the federal government's effort to regulate weapons and prevent armed activity from creating disorder, but rejected the characterization of the process as one in which armed groups would simply hand over their weapons.

His remarks come amid an intense political debate over what "bringing weapons under state control" will mean in practice, with Iraqi officials and political figures offering different descriptions of the mechanisms, timetable and ultimate status of armed factions.

'Any Attack on Erbil Is Unacceptable'

Al-Aqabi also gave an unequivocal response when asked about the security of the Kurdistan Region after the international coalition's withdrawal, particularly in light of previous drone attacks.

"Any attack on the city of Erbil or any other Iraqi province is strongly rejected and unacceptable," he said.

He described Erbil as an important and inseparable part of Iraq and said the security of the Kurdistan Region was integral to the security of the country as a whole.

According to al-Aqabi, no party should be permitted to threaten the safety of the Kurdistan Region or other Iraqi areas.

His comments are significant given repeated rocket and explosive-drone attacks in recent years against US and coalition facilities in central Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, including Erbil International Airport and Harir Air Base.

Those attacks intensified after the January 2020 killings of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and PMF deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Groups affiliated with what is known as the Islamic Resistance subsequently carried out repeated attacks on US positions.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has consistently condemned attacks threatening the Region and its civilian population.

PMF Backs Coalition Withdrawal

Al-Aqabi strongly endorsed the scheduled conclusion of the US-led coalition's military mission on Sept. 30.

Under the Baghdad-Washington agreement described in the reporting, the coalition's presence is expected to shift from the battlefield mission launched against ISIS toward bilateral security cooperation and advisory support.

Al-Aqabi said Iraq's security institutions were capable of protecting the country without reliance on foreign forces and portrayed the withdrawal agreement as an important step toward strengthening Iraqi sovereignty.

"We fully support this step," he said, adding that Iraq's security forces were capable of maintaining internal security.

He characterized the Baghdad-Washington agreement as a national achievement and said all sides were awaiting its implementation.

Regulation, Not Surrender

The most consequential part of al-Aqabi's interview concerned the future of weapons held by armed groups.

He denied that the current process meant those groups would surrender their arms outright. Rather, he said their weapons would be regulated under the federal government, with the PMF supporting that approach.

The distinction comes as other Iraqi figures have described a broader process aimed at placing weapons exclusively under state authority.

Baha al-Araji, a senior figure in the Reconstruction and Development bloc, told Kurdistan24 that a significant political consensus had emerged around the issue, but said implementation could take more than a year because of mistrust and regional complexities.

Al-Araji has called for armed factions to separate themselves from political parties and for their personnel to come fully under the PMF command structure, while also urging Parliament to legislate against unauthorized armed activity.

Separately, Iraqi security officials have said some armed groups have begun participating in a process described as regulating weapons, while stressing that the objective is to bring arms under formal state institutions.

Sept. 30 and the Wider Pressure

The debate has also become entangled with warnings about possible US financial pressure.

Sherwan Doberndani, a member of the Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Committee, has warned that Washington could impose financial and economic sanctions if Baghdad fails to bring weapons outside state authority under control by the end of September. That remains his assessment rather than a confirmed US decision.

Other Iraqi figures have questioned whether Sept. 30 should be treated as a final deadline for the weapons issue at all. Al-Araji has said the process is likely to extend well beyond that date, while political analyst Ghalib al-Daami has described it as more likely to mark the beginning of a longer process.

Against that background, al-Aqabi's formulation offers a clearer indication of how at least one senior PMF official views the next stage: not wholesale surrender, but regulation under the authority of the Iraqi government.

He also stressed that the PMF opposed conflict among Iraq's communities and did not want the country turned into an arena where outside powers settle regional disputes.

Al-Aqabi said the priority was to preserve Iraq's stability and prevent its population from bearing the consequences of international and regional rivalries.

His remarks place three issues now converging around Sept. 30, coalition withdrawal, control of weapons and the security of the Kurdistan Region, within a single argument: Iraq should assume responsibility for its own security, but the transition must not leave room for attacks on Erbil or for armed activity to escape federal regulation.

Kurdistan24's journalist Mateen Kareem Khan contributed to this report.