BAGHDAD, 09 Sept. - (ANA) - Two prominent Iran-aligned Iraqi armed factions have told The New Arab they will not hand over their weapons by a government-imposed deadline at the end of September unless Baghdad meets a series of conditions, including the withdrawal of US and Turkish forces from the country.

 

In exclusive comments to The New Arab, spokesmen for the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades and the Nujaba Movement said they did not consider the 30 September deadline binding and would not disarm in return for promises that failed to guarantee Iraq's security and sovereignty.

 

Sheikh Kadhim al-Fartousi, spokesman for the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, said the group would not hand over its weapons within the government-set deadline unless conditions previously communicated to negotiating parties affiliated with the Coordination Framework were met.

 

Speaking to The New Arab in Baghdad on Monday, around three weeks before the deadline, Al-Fartousi said the group's position had been made clear during talks between armed factions and Coordination Framework representatives over the previous two days.

 

"The Brigades refuse to hand over their weapons within the deadline set by the Iraqi government unless the conditions it previously announced are met," he said.

 

"This position was clearly conveyed to the negotiating parties affiliated with the Coordination Framework during the talks held with armed factions over the past two days."

 

Al-Fartousi said the Brigades and other armed factions within the "Axis of Resistance" continued to "insist on the need for a vision that guarantees Iraq's security and sovereignty".

 

"We affirm that strengthening the authority of the state and placing weapons under the control of its institutions cannot be achieved separately from addressing the challenges and threats that the factions believe still exist," he said.

 

Al-Fartousi said the factions supported strengthening state authority and regulating weapons but argued that their conditions must first be met to ensure Iraq could defend itself against external threats.

 

He also said the factions did not trust promises that US forces would fully withdraw from Iraq, arguing that previous withdrawal announcements had not ended the presence or movement of US forces in the country.

 

"The position of the Brigades and the other factions is not based on rejecting the strengthening of the state's authority, but rather on the need to provide conditions that guarantee the state can exercise its sovereignty and its ability to protect its territory and airspace," he said.

 

The factions' main demands include the withdrawal of US and Turkish forces from Iraq, an end to what they describe as Washington's "political and financial tutelage", the dismantling of the Peshmerga and deployment of federal forces in the Kurdistan Region, and the provision of missile and air defence systems capable of protecting Iraqi airspace.

 

Mehdi al-Kaabi, a leader in the Nujaba Movement, separately told The New Arab that his group also "does not regard the government deadline for handing over weapons as binding".

 

"Any talk of handing over weapons before the conditions previously announced by the factions are met is meaningless," Al-Kaabi said.

 

He said the factions rejected what he described as a unilateral process in which they would be required to relinquish their weapons without guarantees that Iraq could protect its territory and sovereignty.

 

"Weapons are not the problem in themselves, but rather the problem is Iraq remaining exposed to foreign forces and external attacks," he said.

 

Al-Kaabi said any process to regulate weapons must be preceded by the withdrawal of US and Turkish forces and measures to strengthen the state's ability to protect its territory and airspace.

 

He said the factions "will not accept handing over their weapons in exchange for promises or unsecured timetables", arguing that placing weapons under state control must be accompanied by guarantees that foreign forces cannot operate in Iraqi territory or airspace without approval.

 

"The factions support a strong state that possesses its security and military decision-making," Al-Kaabi said, but "will not be a party to arrangements that weaken Iraq's deterrence capabilities or strip it of its means of defence".

 

The Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades and Nujaba are among several armed factions resisting the government's timetable, alongside Hezbollah Brigades and al-Awfiya.

 

The Iraqi government set 30 September as the deadline for bringing weapons outside official institutions under state control, warning that "any weapons remaining outside state authority after this date will be subject to legal action".

 

The government has said it wants to resolve the issue through dialogue rather than confrontation and maintains that the remaining disagreement centres largely on how and when weapons are brought under state control.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/09 September 2026 - -