At 17:25 on 20 August Al-Nujaba TV (Nujaba — official) posted a one-line item under the #don't_hand_over hashtag: no surrender of weapons, and if the PMF is dissolved "we return as before." Twenty-seven minutes earlier and ten minutes later the same channel carried PMF Commission chairman Falih al-Fayyad saying weapons would ultimately be in the state's hands and that the PMF is "an active force on the ground and ready to confront any security challenges." A KH representative's parallel line ran on Al-Ittijah TV (KH — official) minutes afterwards. The rung is credible: three separate channel posts in the collected window carry the wording directly, and nothing in the window contradicts them; what is missing is any statement of what "as before" denotes.
- Al-Nujaba TVNujaba — official20 Aug, 19:58
“We will submit the PMF law on service, retirement and structure within the next two weeks.”
سنقدم قانون الحشد الشعبي للخدمة والتقاعد والهيكلية خلال الأسبوعين المقبلين
- Al-Nujaba TVNujaba — official20 Aug, 20:25
“No surrender of weapons, and if the PMF is dissolved we return as before.”
لا تسليم للسلاح واذا حل الحشد نعود كالسابق
- Al-Ittijah TVKH — official20 Aug, 20:33
“We are with the state... Those demanding the withdrawal of the resistance's weapons today — where were they in 2014?”
نحن مع الدولة... من يطالب اليوم بسحب سلاح المقاومة.. أين كان عام 2014؟
- Al-Nujaba TVNujaba — official20 Aug, 20:35
“We have not joined the military confrontation... The PMF is an active force on the ground and ready to confront any security challenges.”
لم ننخرط في المواجهة العسكرية... الحشد قوة فاعلة على الأرض وجاهزة لمواجهة أي تحديات أمنية
The "return as before" formulation ties an armed contingency to a legislative and political outcome that Al-Nujaba TV itself reported is two weeks from being tabled, which puts the two tracks in the same feed on the same afternoon.