BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi has urged armed factions to join state institutions. Al-Zaidi, who only recently took office, has voiced support for the state’s monopoly on weapons as Washington calls for groups it designates as terrorist organizations to hand over their weapons to the government. It comes after influential Muqtada Al-Sadr said his own group would do so. Al-Sadr has long criticized armed factions and repeatedly urged them to disarm.

Iraq is under pressure from the US to contain militants

Muqtada al-Sadr is the first militia leader to heed new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s call to place weapons in the hands of the state as US pressure continues.

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi has urged armed factions to join state institutions. Al-Zaidi, who only recently took office, has voiced support for the state’s…

Newly elected Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi urged armed factions in the country to work “under the umbrella of the state and its official institutions.”