Chief of the General Staff (Iraq)

Chief of the General Staff
Arabic: رئاسة اركان الجيش
Coat of arms of the Republic of Iraq
Incumbent Colonel General Abdel Emir Yarallah since 8 June 2020
Ministry of Defense
Member of	Armed Forces of Iraq
Reports to	Ministry of Defense
Seat	Green Zone, Baghdad
Appointer	Prime Minister of Iraq
Formation	6 Jan 1921
First holder	Saleh Saeb
Website	mod.mil.iq

The chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iraq (Arabic: رئاسة اركان الجيش العراقي, romanized: riasat arkan aljaysh aleiraqiu; Kurdish: سه‌رۆک ئه‌رکانی سوپای عێراق) is the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iraq. He is appointed by the Prime Minister of Iraq, who is the commander-in-chief. The position dates to the period of the Independence of Iraq. Up until 2003, the Chief of Staff was the second most senior officer in the Armed Forces behind the Minister of Defence.

Since 8 June 2020, the current chief of the General Staff is General Abdel Emir Yarallah.

List of chiefs of the General Staff

Kingdom of Iraq

No.	Portrait	Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces	Took office	Left office
1		SaebColonel General Saleh Saeb (1898–1993)	1944	1951
2		MahmudColonel General Nur Ad-Din Mahmud (1899–1981)	1951	1953
3		KhammasMajor General Hussain Maki Khammas (-–-)	1953	1954
4		ArifLieutenant General Rafiq Arif (1908–1992)	1954	1958

Republic of Iraq (1958-2003)

No.	Portrait	Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces	Took office	Left office
1		AbdiMajor General Ahmed Saleh Al-Abdi (1912–1968)	1958	1963
2		YahyaLieutenant General Tahir Yahya (1916–1986)	1963	1963
3		ArifLieutenant General Abdul Rahman Arif (1916–2007)	1963	1966
4		MahdiMajor General Hamudi Mahdi (1916–2007)	1966	1967
5		AnsariMajor General Ibrahim Faisal Al-Ansari (1920–2010)	1967	1968
6		ShihabLieutenant General Hammad Shihab (1922–1973)	1968	1970
7		ShanshalLieutenant General Abdul Jabbar Shanshal (1920–2014)	1970	1984
8		DhanuunLieutenant General Abdul Jawad Dhanuun (1936–2020)	1984	1986
9		MustafaLieutenant General Saad Eddin Aziz Mustafa (born 1938)	1986	1987
10		KhazrajiLieutenant General Nizar Al-Khazraji (born 1938)	1987	1990
11		RashidColonel General Hussein Rashid (born 1940)	1990	1991
12		FutayyihColonel General Iyad Futayyih (1942–2018)	1991	1995
13		HashimColonel General Sultan Hashim (1945–2020)	1995	1995
14		ShannanColonel General Abdul Wahid Shannan (born 1944)	1995	1999
15		SattarLieutenant General Ibrahim Abdul Sattar (1950–2010)	1999	2003