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BAGHDAD: A bill in Iraq that would further formalize the role — and perhaps, the autonomy — of a powerful coalition of pro-Iran former paramilitaries has sparked a heated debate, fanned in part by US pressure.
Few details of the bill that could decide the future of the Hashed Al-Shaabi alliance have been made public.
Formed in 2014 when Iraqis were urged to take up arms against the jihadists of the Daesh group, the Hashed is a powerful force with major military and political clout.
The bill aims at regulating and restructuring the alliance of a myriad of armed groups, which together have more than 200,000 fighters and employees.
Not mincing words, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the proposed legislation “would institutionalize Iranian influence and armed terrorist groups undermining Iraq’s sovereignty.”
An Iraqi government official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said opponents of the bill say it “seems to establish something similar to the Revolutionary Guards” in Iran — a powerful military force imbued with the Islamic republic’s ideology.
The aim, according to political scientist Renad Mansour, is to integrate the Hashed “even more into the state.”
“Some argue that this is an important first step, because it’s better to have them in this system than outside the system, where they could be spoilers,” said Mansour, a senior research fellow at Chatham House think tank.
But others, he added, “argue that this is a further way for the Hashed to consolidate its power,” giving the alliance “access to greater funds, greater intelligence, and other kind of equipment and technology.”
The debate around the bill comes at a time of heightened regional tensions and upheavals, as the Gaza war reverberates across the Middle East.
Iranian allies and proxies have been weakened in wars with Israel, which has Washington’s backing. In Lebanon, Tehran-backed group Hezbollah faces a government push to disarm it by the end of the year.
In recent years, the Iraqi armed factions have seen their clout grow, with some gaining seats in parliament and in government, even as several group leaders — including the Hashed’s top commander — have been subjected to US sanctions.
In 2022 the coalition was granted a public works enterprise, Al-Muhandis, with capital worth tens of millions of dollars.
Responding to Washington’s concerns, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has defended the proposed bill as “part of the government’s broader security reform agenda.”
The Hashed “is an official Iraqi military institution operating under the authority of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces,” Sudani said.
A 2016 law already affords the Hashed the status of a public body. But some factions face accusations of collecting government salaries for their fighters on the one hand, but acting entirely independently of the state on the other.
Some of the factions within the Hashed are aligned with Baghdad, while others pledge their allegiance first and foremost to the Tehran-led “Axis of Resistance.”
The latter have in the past launched rockets and explosive-laden drones at US troops stationed in Iraq as part of an anti-jihadist coalition.
Mansour said the Hashed was unlikely to morph into something that resembles Iran’s Guards.
It “isn’t a coherent institution,” he said.
“It has many different groups, many different factions, many different leaders, and they’re still fighting with each other.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source close to the armed factions told AFP that Shiite Muslim political parties seek a “special law” that would guarantee the Hashed remains “an independent military institution, on the same level as the interior or defense ministry.”
Sunni Muslim and Kurdish politicians oppose any such move, and even among the Shiites there is no consensus, said the government official.
Deputy parliament speaker Mohsen Al-Mandalawi said the proposed legislation “contributes to enhancing the combat capabilities” of the Hashed and to “creating new formations concerned with developing this security institution,” according to the official Iraq News Agency.
If approved, it would pave the way for the creation of a special military academy and secure the Hashed’s “financial independence,” according to a parliament report published by state media.
According to the report, the Iraqi state council noted the “bloating” of administrative structures, and opposed the creation of such an academy for the Hashed instead of using existing defense ministry facilities.
But with legislative elections coming up in November, the former paramilitaries may seek to seize on the chance to gain institutional recognition.
The Hashed “needs something to reinvigorate its base,” said Mansour.
“The more the Hashed is institutionalized, the more access it has to Iraq’s wealthy state coffers,” he added.
“This could become another mechanism for patronage.”