Iraq's cabinet on Tuesday approved a draft law creating a national guard, which Sunni political figures have described as a necessary step to achieving national reconciliation. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's spokesman Rafid Jaboori applauded the sending of the national guard law to parliament as "a way to confront ISIL", a reference to the militant group Islamic State which controls large sections of the country. Sunni political and tribal leaders have billed the national guard law as a way to handle their own security in combating the militant group. The guard would be a locally-based force, answerable to the provincial government, and then the prime minister.