Iraq stands firm on Popular Mobilization Bill despite US pushback

Iraqi News

3 days ago

Baghdad – A bill in Iraq that would further formalise the role — and perhaps, the autonomy — of a powerful coalition of pro-Iran former paramilitaries has sparked a heated debate, fanned in part by US pressure.
Few details of the bill that could decide the future of the Hashd al-Shaabi, also referred as Popular Mobilization Forces or PMF, alliance have been made public.
Formed in 2014 when Iraqis were urged to take up arms against the jihadists of the Islamic State group, the Hashd is a powerful force with major military and political clout.
The bill aims at regulating and restructuring the alliance of a myriad of armed groups, which together have more than 200,000 fighters and employees.
Not mincing words, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the proposed legislation 'would institutionalise Iranian influence and armed terrorist groups undermining Iraq's sovereignty'.
An Iraqi government official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said opponents of the bill say it 'seems to establish something similar to the Revolutionary Guards' in Iran — a powerful military force imbued with the Islamic republic's ideology.
The aim, according to political scientist Renad Mansour, is to integrate the Hashd 'even more into the state'.
'Some argue that this is an important first step, because it's better to have them in this system than outside the system, where they could be spoilers,' said Mansour, a senior research fellow at Chatham House think tank.
But others, he added, 'argue that this is a further way for the Hashd to consolidate its power', giving the alliance 'access to greater funds, greater intelligence, and other kind of equipment and technology'.
The debate around the bill comes at a time of heightened regional tensions and upheavals, as the Gaza war reverberates across the Middle East.
Iranian allies and proxies have been weakened in wars with Israel, which has Washington's backing. In Lebanon, Tehran-backed group Hezbollah faces a government push to disarm it by the end of the year.
In recent years, the Iraqi armed factions have seen their clout grow, with some gaining seats in parliament and in government, even as several group leaders — including the Hashd's top commander — have been subjected to US sanctions.
In 2022 the coalition was granted a public works enterprise, Al-Muhandis, with capital worth tens of millions of dollars.
Responding to Washington's concerns, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has defended the proposed bill as 'part of the government's broader security reform agenda'.
The Hashd 'is an official Iraqi military institution operating under the authority of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces', Sudani said.
A 2016 law already affords the Hashd the status of a public body. But some factions face accusations of collecting government salaries for their fighters on the one hand, but acting entirely independently of the state on the other.
Some of the factions within the Hashd are aligned with Baghdad, while others pledge their allegiance first and foremost to the Tehran-led 'Axis of Resistance'.
The latter have in the past launched rockets and explosive-laden drones at US troops stationed in Iraq as part of an anti-jihadist coalition.
Mansour said the Hashd was unlikely to morph into something that resembles Iran's Guards.
It 'isn't a coherent institution', he said.
'It has many different groups, many different factions, many different leaders, and they're still fighting with each other.'
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source close to the armed factions told AFP that Shiite Muslim political parties seek a 'special law' that would guarantee the Hashd remains 'an independent military institution, on the same level as the interior or defence ministry'.
Sunni Muslim and Kurdish politicians oppose any such move, and even among the Shiites there is no consensus, said the government official.
Deputy parliament speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi said the proposed legislation 'contributes to enhancing the combat capabilities' of the Hashd and to 'creating new formations concerned with developing this security institution', according to the official Iraq News Agency.
If approved, it would pave the way for the creation of a special military academy and secure the Hashd's 'financial independence', according to a parliament report published by state media.
According to the report, the Iraqi state council noted the 'bloating' of administrative structures, and opposed the creation of such an academy for the Hashd instead of using existing defence ministry facilities.
But with legislative elections coming up in November, the former paramilitaries may seek to seize on the chance to gain institutional recognition.
The Hashd 'needs something to reinvigorate its base', said Mansour.
'The more the Hashd is institutionalised, the more access it has to Iraq's wealthy state coffers,' he added.
'This could become another mechanism for patronage.'