Al-Zaydi’s advisor settles the debate: There is no specific deadline for restricting weapons.
Al-Zaydi’s advisor settles the debate: There is no specific deadline for restricting weapons.
2026-09-18
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Qasim al-Araji, an advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zidi, denied on Friday that a time limit had been set for the work of the committee tasked with restricting weapons to the state.
Al-Araji said in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, “What has been circulating recently on social media regarding the setting of a time limit for the work of the weapons inventory committee is completely untrue; there is no specific time limit for the state to inventory weapons.”
He stressed that “if all the work of the committee formed by the coordination framework, which operates under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister, is completed and weapons are fully confined to the hands of the state, then anyone who carries weapons illegally will be treated according to the provisions of the law as an outlaw, and strict legal measures will be taken against him, and he will be treated as a terrorist.”
Al-Araji’s clarification comes at a time when the issue of restricting weapons to the state has resurfaced before September 30, coinciding with the end of the mission of the international coalition forces in Iraq.
After the date was initially presented as a deadline for handing over weapons outside official institutions, government officials later clarified that it relates to the end of the coalition’s mission and does not represent a date for the complete disarmament of factions.
In contrast, influential armed factions refuse to consider September 30 as a binding date for them, and link the discussion of the future of their weapons to the complete and permanent withdrawal of foreign forces, while the government affirms that the end of the coalition’s mission will remove the justifications for keeping weapons and accelerate their organization under the umbrella of the state.
shafaq.com
