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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

SUNDAY, 2 AUGUST 2026 · MORNING EDITION

The Daily Digest

Drones struck sites in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah late on 1 August, and Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered emergency security measures to prevent attacks on neighbouring states launched from or through Iraq. Six posts across three militia media networks reported the strikes between 21:51 and 22:30 on 1 August without agreeing on who was hit: Al-Nujaba TV, the channel of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, said drones struck "separatist parties" headquarters in Erbil; Al-Ghadeer TV, affiliated with the Badr Organization, reported hits on "opposition headquarters" and then on "American occupation sites" in Sulaymaniyah; and Sabereen News and Unit 10,000, both Kataib Hezbollah-affiliated, reported suicide drones hitting "the American enemy" at Farmandi in Sulaymaniyah. Al-Ahad TV, Asaib Ahl al-Haq's official channel, and Sabereen News posted night footage of the same burning Sulaymaniyah site within four minutes, captioned respectively as Iranian opposition party headquarters and as American sites; no militia channel in the collected material claimed responsibility, and no caption named a perpetrator.

Al-Monitor, writing hours before the strikes, called renewed attacks in Iraq a test of Zaidi's push to disarm Iran-backed militias, while UN Secretary-General Guterres commended the government's stance and affirmed UN support for state-controlled weapons and Canada reaffirmed the same position.

The US-led coalition has begun what Washington describes as a pre-planned withdrawal from the Kurdistan Region, which Rudaw reports leaves the region exposed as Iranian attacks intensify. The US embassies in Iraq and Jordan urged Americans to prepare for possible escalation across the Middle East and to prepare for flight cancellations amid the war with Iran. Al Jazeera reports that Iranian Kurdish opposition parties based in Iraq are treading a delicate balance amid Iranian attacks — the same category of site two of the militia networks described as hit in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah.

Iraq and Turkey signed a one-year agreement on 1 August to transport and load Iraqi crude through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan port at a minimum volume of 750,000 barrels per day, after Iraq's oil minister travelled to Ankara to conclude it. Zaidi called it a strategic achievement securing continued export of Iraqi oil, and AP frames the deal as boosting exports during the ongoing Hormuz closures. Shafaq News reports the Central Bank's reserves slid more than $7 billion in the first half of 2026.

An Iraqi official says roughly 4.5 million Shiite pilgrims have arrived in Iraq for Arbaeen, the first since the war, with France 24 reporting Iranian pilgrims flooding across the border and 600 media workers covering the rites in Karbala. PUKmedia reports the pilgrimage running through a heatwave that pushed temperatures to 50 degrees Celsius in eight Iraqi provinces, with Dhi Qar at 51 and Sulaimani the coolest at 42.

THINGS TO WATCH
A claim of responsibility for the Kurdistan drone strikeslow likelihoodhigh impactSix militia posts described the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah strikes with contradictory accounts of who was hit and none claimed responsibility, so a claim under a named brand would settle who acted.
What Zaidi's emergency measures actually consist ofmedium likelihoodhigh impactKurdistan24 reports the prime minister ordered emergency security measures to prevent attacks on neighbouring states launched from Iraq, and the observable next step is a named unit, arrest or facility action.
Further coalition withdrawal steps in the Kurdistan Regionmedium likelihoodhigh impactRudaw reports the pull-out is already under way and leaves the region exposed as Iranian attacks intensify, so each further base handover is measurable.
First cargo loaded at Ceyhan under the new dealmedium likelihoodmedium impactThe signed agreement sets a minimum of 750,000 bpd through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, and the settling event is an actual loading at the port.
Salary payments against falling reservesmedium likelihoodmedium impactAsharq al-Awsat reports the government admitting difficulty paying salaries on time while Central Bank reserves fell more than $7 billion in the first half of 2026, so the next payroll date is the test.
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