Iraq summoned the Lebanese ambassador to Baghdad on Wednesday to formally protest recent comments by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun that referenced Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a move Baghdad said inappropriately dragged Iraq into Lebanon’s internal affairs.

The diplomatic row stems from an interview Aoun gave earlier this week to The New Arab, in which he discussed the future of Hezbollah’s arsenal and floated the possibility of integrating its fighters into the Lebanese Armed Forces. While Aoun stressed that all weapons in Lebanon should be placed under the control of the State by the end of 2025, he ruled out replicating Iraq’s model of absorbing paramilitary forces into official military structures.

“We will not replicate the Popular Mobilization Forces model by integrating Hezbollah into the army, nor will we create a separate unit for it within the army,” Aoun said. “Hezbollah fighters can join the military and undergo integration training, just as members of other parties did at the end of the civil war.”

The remarks triggered swift backlash in Baghdad, where the Iraqi Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the comparison and defending the PMF as a legitimate and essential component of Iraq’s national defense.

“The Popular Mobilization Forces are an important part of Iraq’s military and security system,” the ministry said. “It would have been more appropriate for Lebanon to avoid involving Iraq in its internal crisis or using an Iraqi institution as an example in this context.”

According to the state-run Iraqi News Agency, the Lebanese ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry headquarters, where officials conveyed Iraq’s “displeasure” with the Lebanese president’s statements.

The PMF, an umbrella organization of predominantly Shiite paramilitary groups, was formally incorporated into Iraq’s security apparatus following its pivotal role in the fight against the Islamic State group. Though controversial abroad, it is regarded by the Iraqi government as a key pillar of its national defense strategy.

The Foreign Ministry’s statement reiterated that the PMF’s status is a domestic matter and cautioned against invoking it in foreign political debates. Baghdad also expressed unease over the use of an official Iraqi institution in Lebanon’s discourse surrounding Hezbollah’s future.