Al-Numan: Ending the coalition mission was a professional decision and the state will take in factions' weapons before 30 June 2027

The spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Sabah Al-Numan, said the decision to end the international coalition's mission in Iraq came after professional assessments and was free from political interference.

Al-Numan's remarks came during the ninth panel session of the "Meri 2026" forum held in Erbil, titled "After the International Coalition... Iraq, the Kurdistan Region and the New Regional Balance."

According to Al-Numan, Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaydi's vision is still taking shape amid difficult regional conditions; he has introduced a package of economic policies and is working to reassess Iraq's economic capacities, stressing that security and the economy are interlinked and should not be separated, and that problems must be solved at their roots rather than deferred.

Al-Numan explained that the government will assume custody of the factions' weapons and prevent any activity outside the authority of the state during the specified period until 30 June 2027, while respecting the views of those factions that linked handing over weapons to the end of the international coalition's mission, noting that the end of the coalition's mission removed the pretexts for restricting weapons and centralizing security decision-making.

He added that the factions had announced their commitment to the "goodwill initiative" and to the 90-day deadline set by the government to halt any activity targeting a country neighboring Iraq.

Al-Numan said that Iraq's borders are now secured 100% and that no extralegal actor can threaten any neighboring state, noting the formation of desert forces to protect the shared border with Saudi Arabia in the Karbala, Najaf and Muthanna areas and equipping them with the best equipment to fill previous gaps.