Abadi says nobody can guarantee the factions will disarm by June 2027

BAGHDAD — Former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said there is no certainty armed factions will hand over all their weapons by June 30, 2027, the date Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has set, and proposed bringing fighters who want to stay armed into the state’s security institutions instead.

“No one can give a definitive opinion on whether the factions will hand over the last of their weapons on June 30, 2027,” the Nasr Coalition leader told Dijlah TV. “We are moving in this direction, and I hope that after this date there will be no weapons outside the framework of the state. The final outcome must be that no weapons remain outside the framework of the state. Yes, there is a timetable that needs time and understanding.”

Weapons used against civilians, for economic gain, extortion or seizing land, or in ways that conflict with state policy should also come under government control, he said, adding that “the greatest violation of the sovereignty of the state is the use of weapons to strike neighboring countries.” Drones launched from Maysan hit a Saudi oil pipeline this month.

“The fighter who carries a weapon will not give up his weapon,” he said. “If he wants to remain a fighter, we have to think about how to integrate him into the state, so that he is subordinate to the state and not to external parties.” A fighter “cannot be in the Popular Mobilization Forces and outside the Popular Mobilization Forces,” he said. Parliament passed the 2016 law making the PMF part of the armed forces while Abadi was prime minister.

Zaidi’s plan begins with a 90-day halt to attacks from Sept. 30, followed by six months for the gradual handover of weapons. Reconstruction and Development bloc leader Bahaa al-Araji said this week that a majority of factions had accepted the latest agreement but some still want two years rather than six months. The government says the process covers weapons outside official security institutions, not the PMF as a state body.