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Iraq cracks down on illegal arms flow to militias, armed groups

Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government has launched a campaign in southern provinces to get illegal arms out of the hands of militias and tribal groups.
Employees display rifles for sale at a gun shop in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on September 22, 2020. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq’s supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani encouraged Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government on Sept. 14 to proceed with its campaign to crackdown on possession of illegal weapons by armed groups outside of state control, in a rare stance for the religious authority.

In the past, the authority would call for maintaining security in general, but this time, Sistani encouraged the government’s plan. Kadhimi now has Sistani’s support to focus on armed groups and factions claiming to work alongside the official Iraqi forces.

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