Exclusive: Al-Zaydi is considering sweeping changes in the leadership of the Popular Mobilization Forces.
Exclusive: Al-Zaydi is considering sweeping changes in the leadership of the Popular Mobilization Forces.
2026-08-11
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Informed sources reported on Tuesday that Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi is considering making sweeping changes to senior positions within the Popular Mobilization Forces in the coming period, amid political pressure surrounding the issue.
Sources told Shafaq News Agency that the changes under consideration may include senior leadership positions in the organization, including the head of the Popular Mobilization Forces and the chief of staff of the organization, in addition to other positions held by figures associated with armed factions.
She added that the approach being considered by al-Zaydi includes assigning a number of these positions to officers from the Iraqi army and the Counter-Terrorism Service, in addition to figures from within the Popular Mobilization Forces.
The sources indicated that the decision is still under consideration, with research into the potential repercussions and responses to it at the domestic political level.
According to the sources, one of the goals of the government’s approach is to protect the Popular Mobilization Forces from any potential repercussions during the next stage, whether military, economic, or financial, including the possibility of imposing international sanctions, especially American ones, on the organization or some of its leaders, given the continued control of figures linked to armed factions over a number of senior and leadership positions within it.
Talk of possible changes in the leadership of the commission comes amid previous political disagreements regarding its chairman, Faleh al-Fayyad. In March 2024, Qais al-Khazali, the leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, called for al-Fayyad to be replaced, based on objections related to the length of his tenure and the combination of the commission’s leadership with political work. Leaders from other factions opposed the proposal to replace him.
In January 2025, the Secretary-General of the Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri, denied that the leaders of the Coordination Framework had made a decision to dismiss al-Fayyad. The Popular Mobilization Forces also denied in July of the same year the validity of a circulating document claiming his dismissal and retirement.
The official roots of the Popular Mobilization Forces date back to June 11, 2014, when the Iraqi government made a decision to organize volunteers to repel the invasion of Mosul and its surroundings by ISIS, before the religious authority Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa of “sufficient jihad,” calling on those capable of bearing arms to volunteer in the security forces, which prompted thousands to join the armed formations that later became known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, and which also included factions that were active.
In February 2016, the Popular Mobilization Forces were reorganized by a decree, before the Iraqi parliament passed Law No. (40) of the same year, which made it part of the armed forces and linked to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, amid objections and a boycott by Sunni representatives.
In subsequent years, the draft law on service and retirement for the Popular Mobilization Forces sparked political and parliamentary disputes, particularly regarding the retirement age and the regulation of the status of the Popular Mobilization Forces’ members and leaders, which prompted the government to withdraw the draft from parliament in March 2025, before calls were renewed to present and approve it in the new parliament.
shafaq.com
