At 23:29 on 17 August, Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) published a graphic quoting Shibl al-Zaidi — leader of Kataib al-Imam Ali, captioned on the graphic as head of the Khidamat alliance — that enacting, strengthening and equipping the PMF law and regulating weapons are necessary to build a strong, unified and capable state, with the accompanying on-screen text adding that weapons outside the state framework have become a real threat to civil and societal peace. The rung is credible: the caption and the graphic's own visible text carry the same wording, and nothing in the window contradicts it; what is absent is any statement of which weapons or which holders the formulation covers.
- Al-Ahad TVAAH — official18 Aug, 02:29
“Shibl al-Zaidi: passing the PMF law and regulating weapons are a necessity for building a strong and capable state … weapons outside the state framework have become a real threat to civil and societal peace”
شبل الزيدي: إقرار قانون الحشد وضبط السلاح ضرورة لبناء دولة قوية ومقتدرة … السلاح خارج إطار الدولة أصبح تهديداً حقيقياً للسلم الأهلي والمجتمعي
A faction leader endorsing "regulating weapons" on AAH's platform sets the terms on which the PMF law is being sold as state-building rather than as entrenchment, and the undefined scope is where the political fight will sit.