2026-05-31T11:14:15+00:00
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Shafaq News- Baghdad
Muqtada Al-Sadr’s decision to
dissolve ties with Saraya Al-Salam, the armed wing of his Patriotic Shiite
Movement (PSM), was conveyed to Washington, political analyst Rafid Al-Atwani
told Shafaq News on Sunday, describing the move as an effort by Al-Sadr to ease
pressure on the Iraqi government amid mounting international scrutiny of armed
groups.
Al-Atwani, who is close to the PSM,
argued that armed groups such as the Mahdi Army, founded by al-Sadr in 2003,
emerged during the years of the US military presence in Iraq, while the current
government has adopted a policy of restricting weapons to state institutions.
Al-Sadr, according to Al-Atwani, had
previously sought to integrate Saraya Al-Salam members into Iraq’s security
institutions, but successive governments rejected the proposal and maintained
the presence of armed factions outside official structures.
Saraya Al-Salam currently operates
through three brigades within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a
predominantly Shiite umbrella force incorporated into the Iraqi state in 2016.
However, he suggested that the group’s members could eventually be withdrawn
from the PMF and integrated into another security institution, possibly the
Federal Police, citing Al-Sadr’s longstanding reservations about the PMF’s
leadership and some of its factions.
He noted that around 400 Saraya
Al-Salam members remain outside the PMF structure and would require separate
legal and financial arrangements, while some personnel could eventually be
transferred to Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous, a civil organization affiliated with
Al-Sadr.
The Shiite cleric’s latest move, the
analyst added, differs from previous suspensions or dissolutions of armed
groups linked to the movement, noting that Al-Sadr took the decision to “keep
the country away from the threat of military strikes or sanctions.”
Asked whether a new armed formation
linked to the movement could emerge in the future, Al-Atwani said it was too
early to tell. “Any new formation will depend on the circumstances Iraq
faces in the future,” he remarked.
On May 27, Al-Sadr announced the
formal separation of Saraya Al-Salam from the PSM, stating that its members
would join state institutions “in the national interest.” Prime
Minister Ali Al-Zaidi, who has made state control over weapons a central pledge
of his government program, and representatives of Al-Sadr had agreed on a
mechanism to integrate the group into Iraq’s security forces and transfer its
weapons to the state, forming a committee to oversee the implementation
process.
Read more: Ali Al-Zaidi’s incomplete cabinet faces Iraqi
armed factions test
The broader government plan is
widely viewed as extending beyond Saraya Al-Salam to factions operating under
the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” umbrella, including Kataib
Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhadaa, and Harakat al-Nujaba.
Although many of these groups are formally part of the PMF, they continue to
maintain separate command structures and weapons networks outside direct
government control. Washington has increased pressure on Baghdad, linking
support for the Iraqi government to limiting the role of armed factions within
state institutions and their disarmament.
A source previously told Shafaq News
that Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), the country’s main ruling
coalition that includes parties linked to armed factions, is expected to
discuss Al-Sadr’s decision, the future of the PMF, and broader efforts to place
weapons under state control during a meeting with Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi
in the coming days.
