Iraq’s Sunni lawmakers pledged on Sunday to challenge in court a newly passed law that formalizes the combat role of Iranian-backed Shiite militias, one of the country’s more powerful adversaries of Islamic State. The legislation legally empowers the militias and makes them ultimately answerable to Iraq’s prime minister, but it also allows groups that have been accused of abuses against Sunnis to maintain command structures separate from the nation’s police and military. The move raises questions of who will oversee the militias on the battlefield and feeds into criticism from Sunnis that such divisions threaten to partition the country along sectarian lines. “We believe that this is the start of partitioning Iraq and a clear rejection of the Sunnis in the country,” said Mohammed al-Karbouli, a Sunni member of parliament who was among dozens that boycotted Saturday’s vote on the bill in a show of opposition. He warned the […]