The Minister of Interior, Abdul Amir Al-Shammari, confirmed that Iraq is witnessing a significant decline in the rate of criminal crimes, terrorist threats, and tribal conflicts in all governorates, revealing the ministry's intention to take over security in the centers of liberated cities this year, pointing out that the process of restricting weapons in the hands of the state is implemented in three paths. Al-Shammari said during his participation in the Sulaymaniyah Forum today: 'The Interior Ministry's responsibility for security in the governorates is one of the priorities of the government program, and it naturally requires more security capabilities than military ones.' He added, "Since the year 2003 until the formation of the current government, security responsibility was managed by the Ministry of Defense and through operations commands and in a military manner through checkpoints and concrete barriers, but now, with the presence of security stability as a result of the defeat of terrorist organi zations, we have begun since last year to implement a plan to take over security in the provinces." He continued: "The Ministry of Interior has prepared a plan for the security management of the governorates in which it is responsible for security, and the security administration differs from the military, as security requires accurate intelligence, surveillance cameras, the spread of rescue patrols, and security work." He stressed: "The process of taking over security from the Interior Ministry began last year with five security-stable governorates in which the police leadership took over responsibility, which are Babylon, Najaf, Wasit, Diwaniyah, and Muthanna. This year we started with Dhi Qar and the city of Samarra, and we are determined to take over security in the centers of the liberated cities." He pointed out: "The experiment proved successful, according to the evaluation of the Joint Operations Command and the National Security Advisory, as these governorates witnessed a significant decrease in t he number of security threats and criminal crimes and clear stability. We also have a significant decrease in these crimes in all Iraqi governorates." Regarding the process of inventorying weapons launched by the Ministry of Interior, Al-Shammari explained, 'Iraq, until the year 2017, had battles with terrorist organizations, and the weapons available to tribes and citizens were used to fight these organizations, and currently, in light of the security stability that the country is witnessing, the Supreme Committee for Controlling Weapons has been formed to registering the weapons in the hands of the state.' This committee has prepared a program to achieve this goal, and we have actually begun the matter through the process of registering weapons.' He stated that "the plan follows three paths. The first is medium and heavy weapons, and the Council of Ministers has allocated sums to purchase these weapons from citizens. The second is the registration of light weapons in police stations. The third path will b e implemented with campaigns to confiscate unreceived and unregistered weapons and hold violators accountable. It will begin after the end of the period specified by the Ministry by the end of the year 2024 for delivery and registration.' On the issue of tribal conflicts, Al-Shammari pointed out that 'law enforcement efforts contributed to a significant decline in these conflicts, and the security services, as part of their efforts to address the phenomenon, confiscated large quantities of weapons. Source: National Iraqi News Agency