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Two PPF brigades, largely Shia-dominated, stormed the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture on July 27 and exchanged fire with the police.

The incident, which ended up killing a police officer, could be seen as a power struggle for position, but it also demonstrates a certain level of bravery on the part of the brigades.

According to Mehmet Alaca, an expert on Iraq’s Shia militias, Ayad Kadhim Ali called the brigades after he was fired as the ministry’s head in the Karkh district of Baghdad. According to analysts, Ali and the brigades that attacked the ministry are connected to Kataib Hezbollah, as do they.

The incident serves as a proverbial test for whether PMF factions can hold themselves accountable for breaking the law in Iraq.

The government of Iraq claims that this would be accomplished by passing new legislation that would fully entail the PMF’s integration into the state. The bill’s proponents claim that it will encourage the PMF to abide by the law, but critics worry that it will provide legal protection to already-heavy militias.

The PMF

The PMF is a group of mostly Shia-related, close-knit community-based organizations that are affiliated with neighboring Iran. During the Iraqi resistance against US occupation, a few of these groups emerged first.

For instance, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq split from Jaish al-Mahdi, the Shia rebellion’s former dominant arm, in 2007. The organization intervened in Syria’s civil war to support then-President Bashar al-Assad as he attempted to overthrow a popular rebellion after receiving Iranian support to become a major powerbroker in Iraq.

Another, though smaller, PMF group, Kataib Imam Ali, reportedly sent fighters to Syria during the height of its conflict after receiving training from the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah in Iran.

Following the 2014 fatwa urging all able-bodied men to join the state’s defense of Iraq from ISIL (ISIS), the majority of PMF factions were created, like Kataib Imam Ali.

ISIL held control of large areas of land that amounted to the size of England in Syria and Iraq at the time. Even Mosul, an Iraqi city, was taken over by ISIL, who then established a “caliphate” there.

A law recognized the PMF as a component of the state’s national security by the country’s parliament in 2016!

However, the law lacks clarity regarding control over spending and budgetary control, and it has failed to stop some organizations from launching unilateral attacks on American military and civilian assets.

For instance, the PMF received a $3.4 billion budget in 2024, which was more than Lebanon’s total budget.

The figure is modest in comparison to the $ 21 billion that the state gave to a body whose membership list was incomplete. However, it is significant.

The Ministry of Finance reviews the names submitted by each registered PMF faction after receiving a list of names. According to a 2021 report from the Chatham House think tank, PMF leaders frequently intervene to get payments through unchallenged.

There are estimated 238,000 PMF fighters, according to estimates.

The PMF’s desire to establish itself as a legitimate entity in Iraq has been helped by the state budget’s contribution.

According to Renad Mansour, an expert on Iraq with Chatham House, “the PMF was adamant that it was a part of the state and not a militia” from the beginning.

After securing significant administrative positions in key ministries, PMF factions have emerged as political wings, won parliamentary elections, and benefited from lucrative state funding.

Some fought back against the state to protect their patronage networks and control of crucial ministries as they gained power.

According to Alaca, the expert on Iraqi Shia militias, PMF organizations connected to Iran reportedly attempted to upend the government after losing numerous parliamentary seats and thus gaining access to state funds by launching a drone at the home of then-Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in 2021.

The new law

The new law was created in March by the Iraqi government. All PMF factions would be given official, stable employment, and would place them under the leadership of Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, the leader of the organization.

A coalition of five Shia parties, known as the Coordination Framework, is one of the main supporters of the draft law.

Inna Rudolf, an expert on the PMF and senior research fellow at King’s College London, argued that the argument being made by those who support the law is that by providing an institutional safe haven for armed factions under a reformed PMF, it would encourage those who do so in order to lessen their desire to engage in international combat.

The law, which is most important to the PMF, provides much-needed legal protection at a time when Israel and the US are threatening to target organizations that the PMF views as proxies.

Some claim that having complete access to intelligence would make it risky because it could be passed to Iran.

However, many PMF factions would be more concerned with maintaining their wealth and power base than with upholding Iranian interests, according to analysts.

According to a report from the Royal United Services Institute, PMF organizations did not attack US assets or personnel during the 12-day Israel-Iran war, likely out of fear of using Israel as a pretext to attack their resources and command structures as Israel did against Hezbollah.

According to Mansour, “the stronger and more ingrained PMF groups have been practicing restraint and urging smaller, pro-Iran factions not to participate in the regional conflict between Iran and Israel,”

According to Rudolf, the follow-up to the Ministry of Agriculture incident will evaluate PMF commanders’ willingness to work with the state to hold their own members accountable as well as the state’s level of seriousness in doing so.

She praised al-Sudani’s “strong will” by referring to the entire raid’s perpetrators to the court and calling for the formation of a review committee to look into “negligence in leadership and control duties” within the PMF.

Rudolf&nbsp told Al Jazeera that “Sudani’s administration wants to demonstrate that it has the same authority over the PMF as members of the security forces and that everyone associated with it must adhere to the same code of conduct.”

controversies of the new law

Not everyone in Iraq agrees with the PMF’s integration, according to Zeidon al-Kinani, an adjunct instructor at Georgetown University in Qatar and an expert on the region.

He claimed that hundreds of young protesters who were protesting against what they saw as a corrupt political elite in 2019 were being harmed and even killed by many PMF factions.

In consequence, civil society opposes the government’s decision to accept only those who have close ties to Iran, according to al-Kinani, and is wary of seeing all PMF factions receive the same rights as Iraq’s army and police.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly told al-Sudani that the law would “institutionalize Iranian influence and armed terrorist groups undermining Iraq’s sovereignty.”

Former and current Iraqi officials claimed that any attempt to disband the PMF could lead to sectarian strife.

Al-Kinani warned that the US might start a conflict by making unreasonable demands without supporting Iraq.