Iraq's New Premier Vows to Disarm Iran-Backed Militias

Iraq's new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, has promised President Trump that he will disarm the Iran-backed paramilitary groups that are carried on the Iraqi government payroll but operate independently of it, NPR reported.

The pledge comes as the militias have intensified their attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions and military installations in Iraq since the start of the U.S. and Israeli war in Iran.

At least one of the groups says it will not give up its weapons. Sheik Kathim al-Fartousi, spokesman for Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, or KSS, told NPR's Jane Arraf that the militia refuses to disarm. The United States placed a $10 million bounty on the group's leader three years ago, and he has since kept a low profile.

Al-Fartousi said KSS considers diplomatic missions to be forbidden targets, but argued that the military and intelligence functions housed at the U.S. Embassy mean those operations no longer carry protected status. He said the group has never targeted the American embassy itself, only what he described as the military base inside the embassy compound.

KSS and some other militias are also promising retaliation against Saudi Arabia over recent attacks on bases, according to the report. Others among the armed factions are pushing instead for a diplomatic resolution.

The standoff underscores the limits of the Iraqi government's authority over the groups. The militias draw salaries from the state while answering to their own commands, an arrangement that has complicated successive governments' efforts to assert control over the country's security forces.

Separately, some 20 million pilgrims gathered in the holy city of Karbala this year for the commemoration of Arbaeen, which marks the killing of Imam Hussein 1,400 years ago. Iran said more than 3 million of its pilgrims attended the ceremonies. Some attendees drew parallels between that history and the killing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and members of his family by Israel and the United States, which many described as an injustice against Shia Muslims.