Gaza Genocide30 September, 20262 min read
Iraqi PM Ali Al-Zaidi Sets June 30, 2027 Deadline For Pro-Iran Factions To Disarm
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Ali al-Zaidi set June 30, 2027 as deadline to bring weapons outside control under government. The deadline follows the US-led coalition formally ending its military mission in Iraq.
5 outlets told this the same way.
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Deadline After US Exit
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi set June 30, 2027 as the deadline for pro-Iran factions to turn over weapons to the state after the US-led coalition ended its military mission in Iraq. Al-Zaidi said, "October 1 is considered a serious beginning to address the issue of weapons outside state control," and he backed away from an original September 30 deadline he had set earlier.
Al-Zaidi also pledged that the state would hold exclusive authority over decisions of war and peace, saying, "Based on the constitutional principle, the decision of war and peace should be left to the constitutional authorities, banning all military action to the contrary." Kataeb Hezbollah military spokesman Jaafar al-Husseini rejected the timeline, declaring the groups had been negotiating with Baghdad to "regulate" their weapons but had "not yet received a response from the Iraqi government."
Militias Reject Timetables
Kataeb Hezbollah’s leadership framed the disarmament deadline as non-binding, with Jaafar al-Husseini saying, "Based on this, the Islamic Resistance declares that it is not bound by any timetable or agreement". NDTV reported that Zaidi had originally set September 30 as the deadline for factions to disarm, but he withdrew it as talks to "regulate" weapons continued.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organisation representing Iran-aligned armed groups, said negotiations with the government over regulating weapons had failed to produce an agreement and that it was "not bound by any timeline or agreement" announced by the government or any political entity. i24NEWS reported that Iran-backed factions had long sought the withdrawal of US troops and had targeted them with drones and missiles, prompting US retaliatory strikes that killed several faction commanders over the years.
What Comes Next
The Iraqi government said the US withdrawal, completed on Wednesday after more than a decade of operations against the Islamic State terror group, would remove the pretext armed factions used to retain their weapons. i24NEWS said many fear the pullout could instead embolden the factions and draw Iraq deeper into the broader Middle East war, even as the Iraqi roadmap included integrating armed factions under the command of the armed forces' commander-in-chief.
Middle East Online described the June 2027 deadline as giving Baghdad additional time to negotiate, while noting that several powerful factions had already signalled that they do not regard themselves as bound by government timetables. Vietnam.vn warned that the disarmament push is a risky bet that could allow Iran to increase its influence in Iraq and open the door to an internal conflict, and it quoted Renad Mansour saying, "Groups belonging to Tehran's Axis of Resistance in the region remain fully engaged in armed conflict".