Iraqi committee starts working to place all weapons under state control, spokesman says

An Iraqi committee has begun working to place all weapons under exclusive state control, military spokesman Sabah al-Nu'man said Wednesday.

"The committee, formed under the directive of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi), has begun its work to place weapons under state control," al-Nu'man told Al-Iraqiya News, as cited by the state news agency INA.

The committee “will establish mechanisms for the integration of the relevant formations and for transferring weapons, equipment, and military camps to the Iraqi security authorities," he said.

"The separation of formations from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) includes restructuring these formations and safeguarding the rights of their members," he added.

The PMF is an official Iraqi security umbrella established in 2014 following a religious edict by top cleric Ali al-Sistani to confront the ISIS (Daesh) terror group, and was later integrated into the armed forces by a government decision in 2016.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel