Al-Sadr announces the separation of the “Peace Brigades” from his movement and the joining of its members to the state.
Al-Sadr announces the separation of the “Peace Brigades” from his movement and the joining of its members to the state.
2026-05-27
Shafaq News – Najaf
On Wednesday, the leader of the Shiite National Movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, announced the separation of the “Peace Brigades” from the movement and the joining of its members to the state, while calling on the “Popular Mobilization Forces” to separate from “partisan and sectarian” orders.
Al-Sadr said in a statement, which was received by Shafaq News Agency, that “the decision came from the general interest of the nation, and in line with the dangers surrounding the nation.”
He added that the civilian entities attached to the “Saraya” will move to Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous without any headquarters, weapons, uniforms, addresses, or anything else.
Al-Sadr expressed his gratitude to “the military formations of the Peace Brigades for all their greater and lesser jihad, and may God forgive all those who did not conform to our religious, doctrinal, and social tastes in general.”
He expressed his hope that all the Popular Mobilization Forces would separate themselves from “partisan and sectarian orders,” especially after the “factions” handed over their weapons to the state, as they had been advised to do years ago.
Al-Sadr’s decision comes in conjunction with political moves to address the issue of the “factions'” weapons and hand them over to the government.
The Peace Brigades represent the military wing of the Shiite National Movement (formerly the Sadr Movement) led by Muqtada al-Sadr. It is an armed formation that officially falls under the umbrella of the government’s Popular Mobilization Forces (Brigades 313, 314, and 315), and it undertakes prominent security tasks in several Iraqi regions, most notably the city of Samarra.
Some political forces and armed factions are showing “flexibility” regarding the issue of restricting weapons to the state, after having been rigid on this subject, according to what a government source told Shafaq News Agency earlier, who added that the process of handing over weapons will be within a specific time mechanism.
The ministerial program of Ali al-Zaidi’s government, which won the confidence of the Iraqi parliament on Thursday, May 14, included a clause restricting weapons to the state, and he emphasized it during his speech after gaining the confidence.
Prior to that, an informed source had revealed to Shafaq News Agency on May 9 that the Coordination Framework had agreed with Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi to form a committee tasked with disarming armed factions, coinciding with the call made by the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr.
The head of the executive council of the Al-Nujaba Movement, Nazim Al-Saidi, one of the most prominent armed factions, confirmed on May 15 that the “weapons control” clause included in the new government’s program does not include “resistance weapons” but rather those that cause “chaos.”
shafaq.com
