ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s pro-Iran Kataib al-Imam Ali militia group on Wednesday handed over information on its armories and equipment to the Iraqi Joint Operations Command ahead its announced integration into the official Iraqi security apparatus.

Earlier in June, the pro-Iran Iraqi armed group affiliated with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced its decision to sever ties with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and begin proceedings to hand over weapons to the state, coming amid a renewed push by Baghdad to rein in armed actors operating outside of its control.

The militia group said that it has also decided to form committees to supervise the handover process and facilitate its integration into state institutions.

The move comes amid renewed calls to integrate armed groups into state institutions, initiated by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who placed state control of weapons at the forefront of his government program earlier in May. 

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command on Wednesday received “the receipt of all files and data pertaining to personnel, weapons, equipment, and vehicles that were in the possession of the Imam Ali Brigades,” it said, as cited by state-owned Iraqi News Agency (INA).

The command further described the move “as a preliminary step toward completing the phases of merger and reorganization and the abolition of all other names and designations“ of such factions.

The developments come as Baghdad’s efforts in what the command described as “to strengthen the pillars of stability, consolidate the rule of law, and confine weapons and armed manifestations under the umbrella of the state."

On Thursday, the command announced the formation of a committee tasked with severing armed groups’ affiliations with the PMF and placing all weapons under state control.

The initiative has been supported by several armed groups, including Muqtada al-Sadr’s Saraya al-Salam, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, and Kataib al-Imam Ali, which announced their disengagement from the PMF and pledged to hand over their weapons. 

However, other factions such as Kataib Hezbollah, Ashab al-Kahf, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Saraya Awliya al-Dam have rejected the move. 

During the recent US-Israeli war on Iran, several pro-Iran PMF factions carried out attacks on US interests and targets in the Kurdistan Region, actions that Baghdad viewed as inconsistent with its policy of neutrality.