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KURDISTAN24Iraq PM Says Coalition Forces to Withdraw From Iraq on Sept. 303HKURDISTAN24Safeen Dizayee: Iraq Must Punish Groups Attacking Kurdistan Region4HKURDISTAN24Senior PMF Official, Three Members Arrested in Baghdad4HKURDISTAN24Al-Araji: Decision for War and Peace Belongs Solely to Iraqi State4HKURDISTAN24Iran Presses Iraq Against Disarming Armed Groups, Sources Say4H964 MEDIAGraham Arnold signs short term Iraq extension, turning down four-year deal5HIRAQI NEWSIraq, Qatar provide oil for loading inside Hormuz via bids5HRUDAWIraq coordinates with Germany, Russia ahead of US coalition withdrawal5HREUTERSIraq's Australian coach Arnold renews contract for six months5HIRAQI NEWSIraq to introduce new banknotes with three zeros removed6HRUDAWBaghdad ready to handle national security after US departure: Spox7HIRAQI NEWSIraq to raise oil exports via Turkey’s Ceyhan to 750,000 bpd8HIRAQI NEWSIraq suggests a security council involving Iran, Saudi Arabia10HTHE NEW REGIONIraq to slash three zeros from currency, introduce new notes10HIRAQI NEWSIraq foreign reserves decline 11.6% to $86.17B in June 202611HIRAQI NEWSSamarra Drug Company starts first domestic Moxifloxacin Antibiotic output11H
Iraq Monitorعين على العراقPrimary-source intelligence
THE BRIEFING · AN INDEPENDENT DIGEST

The Daily Digest

SATURDAY, 1 AUGUST 2026 · EVENING EDITION

The Daily Digest

Kataib Hezbollah opened a paper front against Saudi Arabia today, days after joint US-Saudi airstrikes hit Iran-backed militia positions in Iraq this week. Al-Ittijah TV, Kataib Hezbollah's official outlet, published a scanned letter dated 1 August from Hoquq bloc MP Saud al-Saadi to Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi demanding to know what legal steps the government is taking to recover Iraqi ownership of the oil pipeline crossing Saudi Arabia and whether Baghdad will seek compensation from Riyadh for Saudi use of the line, with a fifteen-day reply deadline. Two hours later Al-Nujaba TV, the official channel of the Nujaba Movement, and Unit 10,000, a Kataib Hezbollah-affiliated channel, posted near-identical lines naming the line as Zubair–Khreis–Yanbu, attached to a scanned document whose visible date read 1 August 2023 in one image and 1 August 2017 in the other. No government reply appears in the collected material, no Iraqi institution or MP has publicly claimed that second inquiry, and the document's provenance is not established.

On the diplomatic side of the weapons file, UN Secretary-General António Guterres commended the Iraqi government's stance and affirmed UN support for state-controlled weapons, and Canada reaffirmed support for Iraq's state monopoly on weapons. Al-Monitor reports that renewed attacks in Iraq are testing Zaidi's push to disarm the Iran-backed militias, with no faction named in the supplied material as claiming them; the prime minister raised alert levels across army and Popular Mobilization Forces bases after the strikes and, according to two sourced reports carrying no on-the-record statement from him, threatened to resign over the disarmament file.

On energy, the oil minister signed in Turkey the agreement he flew there to complete: a one-year deal to move 750,000 barrels per day through Ceyhan port, with exports to begin under the new terms. Al Jazeera reports the signature as coming amid a global shift in oil routes, Kurdistan24 reporting the same deal as a boost to exports through the Ceyhan pipeline. The term is twelve months, against the comprehensive partnership Amwaj asks whether Baghdad and Ankara can shift toward from crisis management.

On the security warnings to foreigners, the US embassies in Iraq and Jordan told Americans to prepare for possible escalation across the Middle East and, in Iraq, for flight cancellations amid the war with Iran. The same day, France 24 reports Iranian pilgrims flooding into Iraq for the first Arbaeen since the war, with the heat failing to slow those on the road to Karbala, Shafaq reports.

In a domestic policing case, four Iraqi police officers face action over a sexual assault case, and The New Region reports the officers were detained over the alleged assault of a female detainee. No court date appears in the supplied material.

THINGS TO WATCH
Government reply to the Hoquq bloc pipeline demandmedium likelihoodmedium impactMP Saud al-Saadi's letter, published by Kataib Hezbollah's Al-Ittijah TV, sets a fifteen-day deadline for the prime minister to answer on Iraqi ownership of the Zubair–Khreis–Yanbu line and compensation from Riyadh.
Provenance of the second scanned inquirylow likelihoodmedium impactAl-Nujaba TV and Unit 10,000 posted a near-identical demand attached to a document dated 1 August 2023 in one image and 1 August 2017 in the other, with no claimant and provenance not established.
Zaidi resignation threat put on the recordmedium likelihoodhigh impactTwo sourced reports say the prime minister threatened to resign over militia disarmament, and neither carries an on-the-record statement from him.
Further attacks testing the disarmament pushmedium likelihoodhigh impactAl-Monitor reports renewed attacks in Iraq already testing Zaidi's drive to disarm the Iran-backed militias, with no faction named as claiming them.
First Ceyhan loadings under the one-year dealhigh likelihoodhigh impactBaghdad and Ankara signed for 750,000 bpd and say exports will begin under the new terms, so actual loadings are the test of the volume.
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