The Daily Digest
Yemen's Houthis have been launching attacks on Saudi Arabia from Iraqi territory, Reuters reported this afternoon citing unnamed sources — an account of the launch-origin question Baghdad spent the day rejecting. Government spokesman al-Aboudi said the government had granted no approval for attacks on specific sites or groups inside Iraqi territory and had no prior knowledge of them; the foreign ministry said no evidence supports Riyadh's claim that a drone attack originated in Iraq, and Baghdad separately denied any strikes on neighbouring states from its soil.
Asharq al-Awsat's own reading is that Iraq avoided admitting the Gulf attacks were launched from its territory "to avoid premature confrontation". The same spokesman's remarks, relayed by Unit 10,000 (Kataib Hezbollah — affiliated), also carried the suspension of the prime minister's visit to Saudi Arabia.
Ahmad al-Mousawi, deputy chairman of the Sadiqoun bloc, said on Al-Ahad TV (Asaib Ahl al-Haq — official) at 19:58 on 30 July that "Saudi targeting of official security headquarters is a declaration of war against Iraq", that the Baghdad-Washington security agreement must be reviewed, and that Iraqis "can enter Saudi Arabia in two days but they are waiting for the government's position" — the desk notes this is the only item in the window that identifies what was allegedly struck.
On the same station a member of the parliamentary security and defence committee asked the speaker to convene an emergency session with al-Zaidi present, saying no summons would be sent to the Saudi ambassador "for fear of hurting his feelings"; no other tracked channel carried a call for an emergency session, and no faction has claimed any response to the strikes.
MP Murtada al-Sa'adi, speaking on the official channel of Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, made any handover of weapons conditional on "real security and political guarantees" for those who bore arms, said "one party cannot be asked to abide by agreements while external attacks and violations continue", and separated the Popular Mobilization as "an official military institution subject to the Commander-in-Chief" from the armed factions while allowing "field harmony" between them; on the PMF law he claimed "no objections inside the Coordination Framework" while the structure track still needs reassurance of various parties.
A former prime minister said the same evening that force will not solve Iraq's weapons issue. Meanwhile the funerals the morning edition previewed took place, and the same detail-free casualty file ran across five networks, with Al-Ittijah TV (KH — official) naming a Basra dead man and Al-Nujaba TV (Nujaba — official) adding Nineveh and Najaf processions chanting for a response — one attack claim and no first-party threats across the watched network in the last 24 hours.
Brent's prompt month stands at 88.99 USD/bbl, against 90.54 in the previous reading on 29 July, after a daily settlement of 91.82; Iraqi oil revenues fell in the first half of 2026 and exports to India fell as New Delhi diversified its import sources. bp brought Türkiye's TPAO into the Kirkuk oil redevelopment project, and Turkish officials say Iraqi flows will keep running while an extension deal is discussed.
In the Kurdistan Region the KRG approved an emergency fuel strategy and restated its budget rights in the 2027 federal spending plan; Erbil's traffic police spokesperson told Rudaw the Erbil-Kirkuk road was closed because of a warehouse fire, and by midday Rudaw reported fires at ten locations in "Shakara Shar" with warehouses on that road still burning.