Soldiers display the victory sign during a military parade organized by the Iraqi army. (Credit: Zaid al-Obeidi/AFP)
BEIRUT — An Iraqi armed faction handed over around 20 Iranian-made fixed-wing drones and missiles with ranges of more than 100 kilometers to the Iraqi government in a transfer witnessed by U.S. representatives, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported Wednesday.
A senior Iraqi official in Baghdad told the media that the "handover took place at a site near the capital several days ago as part of government efforts to demonstrate progress to the United States in a campaign to bring weapons held by Iran-aligned armed groups under state control."
The official said the drones were "one-way attack aircraft with ranges exceeding 250 kilometers and were powered by fuel engines."
The weapons targeted by the disarmament campaign include drones and cross-border missiles with ranges of more than 100 kilometers, while the United States is not seeking the surrender of conventional weapons such as artillery, mortars and machine guns.
The Iraqi government has kept much of the process surrounding the weapons handover confidential, including details on the types of weapons surrendered, according to the publication. Several factions have responded to government efforts to place weapons under state control, while the main groups most closely linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps continue to reject handing over their arsenals.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that the faction that handed over the drones has a political wing and a parliamentary bloc. It said the handover was voluntary and took place with Iraqi forces and representatives of the faction present, as well as personnel linked to the U.S. Embassy who filmed the process.
A senior faction leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the weapons held by Iraqi factions are not simply "scrap" and include advanced surveillance and monitoring capabilities, much of them acquired from Iran.
The leader said some factions, including Harakat al-Nujaba, continue to categorically reject handing over their weapons and are relying on Iranian efforts to halt the government's disarmament campaign.
The report comes as U.S. pressure mounts on Iran-aligned factions within Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, amid a broader government effort to consolidate weapons under state authority.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf visited Baghdad on Wednesday, where he visited the site of the 2020 U.S. strike that killed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Ghalibaf said during the visit that "resistance in Iraq has become an essential element of global power."
The comment came amid growing tensions between the Iraqi government and factions opposed to the disarmament campaign.
