Merging Iraq factions with the “popular crowd” .. a government maneuver to get rid of Western pressure?

The government in Iraq continues to confirm its continued conversations with the armed factions loyal to Iran, which operates under the umbrella of the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, in order to surrender its weapons and subject it to the authority of the state, but the proposition that has become repeated in the recent period is the “integration” of the factions with the “popular crowd”, in a government media orientation that was considered a maneuver to get rid of external pressures, and the factions rejected any government efforts related to With its weapon or organizational status.

All the Iraqi armed factions have a representation in the “Popular Mobilization Authority”, as they all obtain the salaries of their members as well as financing all their needs from the state, within the budget of the “Popular Mobilization”, which last year exceeded the threshold of two billion dollars, which is the procedure in force since 2015. And Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s advisor to foreign relations Farhad Alaeddin said in an interview reported by the official Iraqi news agency, if the issue of the factions is the subject of the factions An internal file and not an external file, and its solution is present within the points of the highest reference, Mr. Sistani and the government program, “according to his saying.

He indicated that “some factions offered to join the popular crowd under conditions, and that” the discussion about the fate of the factions happens every day, “as Aladdin warned against the confirmation of the factions by force, as it leads to a civil war. The counselor’s suspension does not match the statements of the leader of the” Asa’b Ahl al -Haq “group, Qais Khazali, who confirmed at the beginning of this month, in a television interview, which was rejected by calls to hand over the weapon of the Iraqi factions What the Baghdad government is seeking to implement it in response to American pressure, claiming that this weapon is “disciplined”, and that Iraq needs it, and that “the weapon of the factions was not used in internal conflicts, which is a disciplined weapon and defends the sovereignty and protection of Iraqi lands.”

By talking about “integrating the factions” with the “popular crowd”, the government seeks to maneuver, while continuing pressure on them, by establishing the idea of ​​a armed entity other than the “popular crowd”, and entitled “armed factions”, and thus removing the “popular crowd” entity from the demands of a solution or structure, and focusing on the fact that the factions are the ones who attribute the attacks against the forces of the international coalition, against the targets It is affiliated with the Israeli occupation, or even sectarian attacks and demographic change projects inside Iraq, as it occurs in the cliff of the rock, Al -Awja, Al -Awaisat, Sinjar, Nineveh Plain, and others.

For example, the factions that fall within the term “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, all of which possess brigades within the “popular crowd”, as the Al -Nujaba militia, led by Akram Al -Kaabi, owns the 12th Brigade of the Popular Mobilization, and owns the “Sayyid Al -Shuhada” militia, led by Abu Alaa Al -state, Brigade 14, and the militia of the Hezbollah Brigades, the 46th and 47th Brigade, owns the militia. “Al -Khorasani”, Brigade 18, and the militia of the Imam Ali Brigades, owns the 40th Brigade.

A prominent Iraqi diplomatic official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad considered talking about the integration of the factions with the “popular crowd”, as a “maneuver from the government”, adding that there is no armed faction in Iraq that does not have a representation of the popular crowd, and all members of the factions receive salaries through the umbrella of the popular crowd, “and added to” the new Arab “, that the pressure on the government is great, and in return there is a definitive refusal even to open such a conversation about the solution of the factions The armed, so there is no way but officials of such points, “which is confirmed by a former politician and deputy in Parliament, and close to the” coordination framework “coalition, to” Al -Arabi Al -Jadeed “, saying that” the factions refuse to put their qualitative arsenal of drones and missiles in warehouses or government facilities, and talking about integrating and dismantling them very excluded. “

He added that “the Shiite parties are all rejecting the idea of ​​linking the weapons of the factions to the country, and they consider them a tool for control and influence, and most of them have the factions, and they are linked or have alliances with the authority parties,” on his part, the leader of the “Ansar Allah loyal” Ali Al -Fatlawi movement, to “Al -Arabi Al -Jadeed”, said that “the Iraqi factions cannot leave their weapons or dismantle with the continued presence of American forces in Iraq The presence of threats and dangers in the region remained against both Iraq and Lebanon, as well as Yemen and Iran, as these factions are still committed and fixed in the principle of the unity of the resistance arenas, “according to his saying.

Al -Fatlawi indicated that “any talk about disarming the factions or dismantling them is rejected at all, and it is far from the truth, so no party on the day can force the factions to leave their weapons in order to satisfy any external party, and for this the factions are continuing to carry their weapons against the occupation, and this weapon is directed exclusively against the occupation, and there is no threat to the state as some want to promote it.”

As for the security expert in Iraq, Ahmed Al -Sharifi, he pointed out that “the armed factions in Iraq are not an Iraqi option, but rather are part of an international regional conflict, and they are linked to Iran, so their weapons do not represent an institutional weapon in Iraq, and the government decision on the inventory of weapons has been going on for two years, but it has not been achieved, but it is practicing a way to circumvent an attempt to persuade America to not punish Iraq,” stressing that the new Arab “The factions and clans are stronger than institutions, and the decision maker cannot implement his decision, but it works to circumvent decisions.”

On January 21, Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shi’a confirmed that work to integrate the Iraqi armed factions into legal and institutional frameworks, while Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein confirmed that his country started a dialogue with the factions aimed at persuading it to abandon arms and integrate the regular security forces, according to a previous press interview.

Last February, the first deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Mohsen Al -Mandalawi, stressed that achieving internal stability by restricting weapons in the hands of the state is a national priority, indicating that the dissolution of the Iraqi armed factions is possible, although it requires time due to the complexities of the file, and the focus towards political and economic interests, and Al -Mandalawi said in a press interview that “Iraq is working to enhance its regional role and its diplomatic independence A neighbor that brings us historical relations, but our relations with the Arab countries and our efforts to strengthen our sovereignty are separate, “explaining that” his country will not be negatively affected by the decline in Iranian influence in the region. “