Iraq's government moved Monday night to control powerful Iran-backed militias in the country, placing them under the full command of the Iraqi armed forces.
In a decree, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said offices of militias that continue to operate independently within or outside Iraqi cities will be closed and any armed faction working "openly or secretly" against the new guidelines will be considered illegitimate. He said the militias will be subject to the same regulations as the army.
Not all of the militias are tools of Iran. Not even most. But enough are to be a problem. By exerting control, eventually the pro-Iran militias can gradually be brought under control or disbanded.
Iraq needs American (and Arab world) support to resist the Iranian efforts to sustain their own military power in Iraq the way Iran has done in Lebanon and Syria.
UPDATE: Iran will resist this effort:
The Iraqi government's move this week to place Iranian-backed militias under the command of the armed forces is a political gamble by a prime minister increasingly caught in the middle of a dangerous rivalry between Iran and the U.S, the two main power brokers in Iraq.
We must make a better effort to defeat the Iranian pressure. The more support we provide the less Iraq will be in "the middle."
