Iraq Moving to Regulate Weapons Rather Than Disarm Factions, Analyst Says

Iraq is moving toward regulating weapons rather than stripping armed factions of their arsenals, according to Ahmed al-Yasiri, head of the Arab Australian Centre for Strategic Studies.

Al-Yasiri linked the factions’ expected positions after the international coalition’s mission ends to the roles and identities they claim for themselves.

His assessment places those self-defined roles at the centre of how the factions may respond to the end of the coalition mission, rather than suggesting a single position shared by all groups.

The distinction he drew is between organising the possession of weapons and disarming the factions outright. His remarks did not set out a timetable or specific measures for that process.