BAGHDAD — Kataib Hezbollah spokesperson Abu Mujahid al-Assaf announced in May 2026 that the group is prepared to purchase drones, missiles, and other specialized weapons from Iraqi militias that choose to disarm and transfer their arsenals to state custody. The group also offered to assist in securely inventorying, transferring, and storing such weapons, citing a lack of technical specialists within Iraqi state agencies to handle certain systems.
Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia operating within Iraq’s state-funded Popular Mobilization Forces umbrella, said it welcomes disarmament by militias “not involved in the Islamic resistance.” Al-Assaf said, “We welcome every step taken by our brothers (not involved in the Islamic Resistance) that aims to confine weapons to the hands of the state, enhance security, stability and civil peace, preserve the capabilities of the dear Iraqi people and remind us that jihad work today is a collective duty, and we will perform it on behalf of the brothers who decided to leave it, and if we need them, they are close and will not fall short.”
He added that Kataib Hezbollah is prepared to “supervise the inventory of weapons and their transfer and storage in a safe manner” and to receive “special weapons for which there are no specialists in the state agencies, such as drones, suicide aircraft, cruise missiles, anti-armor missiles, and others.” Al-Assaf also said, “We are ready to cooperate and take a constructive role in providing some facilities and guidance between those entities and the Popular Mobilization Forces leadership concerned with this file, including: supervising the inventory of weapons and their transfer and storage in a safe manner, receiving some special weapons for which there are no specialists in the state agencies, such as drones, suicide aircraft, cruise missiles, anti-armor missiles, and others.” He said the group is also ready to “pay for them and contribute to supporting the families of the martyrs and wounded of those entities, as well as the mujahideen who will be dispensed with.”
Al-Assaf said, “The innocence of anyone who has wronged or is wronging any group or faction that has decided previously, currently, or will decide in the future to abandon jihadist work and turn to other work…this is their affair and their decision, and we even commend them for surrendering their weapons to the state, since they did not engage in the work of the Islamic resistance as mentioned previously.”
Kataib Hezbollah, which is sanctioned by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, functions both as a government-paid entity through the Popular Mobilization Forces and independently outside state control. The Popular Mobilization Forces serve as an Iranian-backed umbrella group that also operates as a formal paramilitary arm of the Iraqi government.
No independent assessment of Kataib Hezbollah’s claims was available.