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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga forces have not been officially informed of any plan to integrate them into Iraq’s federal security apparatus, a senior Peshmerga official said on Saturday, as Baghdad steps up efforts to consolidate weapons under state control.
Abdulrahman al-Jazaeri, head of the National Tribal Movement and a senior official in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), told Rudaw that federal and Kurdish security officials are expected to meet in the coming days to discuss mechanisms for incorporating the Peshmerga into Iraq’s rapid response and counterterrorism forces.
Bakhtiyar Mohammed, secretary-general of the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Peshmerga, told Rudaw that the ministry has not been informed of any such plan.
"If such a proposal is raised, parliament and the government must first be informed so that legal reviews can be conducted and legal experts consulted. This issue should be addressed through law, not through discussions and meetings," he said.
He stressed that the Ministry of Peshmerga oversees "an official and legitimate force that has also been recognized by the Iraqi parliament."
The remarks come after influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced last week a "total and absolute separation" of Saraya al-Salam from his political movement and "their full integration into the state."
Sadr said the decision was driven by his commitment to the "public interest of the homeland" and the need to avert the "imminent dangers threatening our country."
Founded in 2014, Saraya al-Salam is widely regarded as the successor to the Mahdi Army, which fought US-led coalition forces following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi welcomed the move and called on other armed groups to follow suit.
Most Shiite armed factions in Iraq operate under the state-sponsored PMF, which was established in 2014 after Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for volunteers to fight the Islamic State (ISIS).
While opposing the disbandment of the PMF, Sistani has repeatedly emphasized the importance of restricting weapons to state control.
During the US-Israel war on Iran, which started in late February, factions operating under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq carried out attacks targeting alleged US-linked sites in Iraq and elsewhere in the region in support of Tehran.
Gashar Khalid contributed to this article.