The Militia Digest

Channels tied to three separate factions all pushed Iraq's salary-funding and cash-liquidity crisis to the front within forty minutes on the night of 2 August, and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq's own broadcaster contradicted itself doing it. Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) posted two consecutive segments from the same programme: former Finance Committee member Mohammad al-Shabaki said the Central Bank will not be able to fund salaries after the tenth month and the crisis may run six months, then one minute later Sadiqoun bloc member Qais al-Jawrani said salaries are secured to the end of 2026 while also calling the deficit total and compulsory savings an option on the table. Al-Ittijah TV (KH — official) asked what solutions the government has, and iNEWS (KSS — affiliated) framed the choice as printing money or selling state assets. Across four further Al-Ahad posts to just past midnight the channel held one line with no competing framing — Iraq has passed its ceiling and cannot borrow again from the World Bank, under an on-screen banner reading "Salaries are shaken to the rhythm of Hormuz!", with Adnan al-Jumaili named as having cost Iraqis billions and "hundreds" like him said to exist.

In the militia space, Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) carried the deputy head of the Academy for Political Development and Good Governance, Hisham al-Husseini, saying that any party that responds to what he called the Saudi aggression and embarrasses the government must be treated as outside the law, the state alone holding the right to respond. No militia has claimed any response to the Saudi episode he refers to, and no other tracked channel carried the remark or any outside account of that episode.

On the weapons file, the networks pulled in opposite directions within the same hours. Sabereen News (KH — affiliated) posted a video addressed to the factions of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, captioned "from Jurf al-Nasr to the Republic of Ali… do not leave the weapons", with on-screen text presented as pilgrims' words calling the weapon a trust; the post names no party and carries no operational content. Al-Ittijah TV (KH — official) published a line attributed to al-Sindi that handing over the resistance's weapons is an American project running from Gaza through Lebanon and Iraq to Iran. Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official), meanwhile, relayed government spokesman Hayder al-Aboudi tying the reshaping of the commander-in-chief's office to continuing dialogue with parties reserved about handing over their weapons — the holdouts are named by no source here, and no faction comment is attached.

Also on the weapons file, the official channel of Harakat al-Jihad wal-Bina published a sequencing in the name of MP Jawad Rahim al-Saadi, a member of the parliamentary security and defence committee: the army must first be equipped with modern defensive systems before weapons-confinement to the state can be discussed. The same summary calls the dawn Wednesday assault on Popular Mobilization Forces headquarters a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty; no party claims responsibility for that attack in the material supplied, and no outside coverage of it is in hand. The same movement's Al-Janoub TV aired a guest, Wisam Aziz, calling the 2008 U.S.-Iraq security agreement "ink on paper" that Washington has never implemented.

On the electoral question, Watan TV (Badr Organization — affiliated) twice inside eight minutes gave distribution to former prime minister Haider al-Abadi saying no armed faction may take part in elections because it disrupts the democratic process, and that use of state agencies turns democracy into populism. The channel added no comment of its own and did not say Badr endorses the position, and no other tracked channel touched electoral participation that night.

On the judicial front, Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) posted a graphic reporting that Mashreq al-Furaiji, described as a leader in the Construction and Development Coalition, demands the prosecution of former prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi under the hashtag "Try al-Kadhimi", saying files tied to his government deserve renewed audit. The demand is al-Furaiji's; the channel attached no endorsement and no judicial or parliamentary step appears in the supplied material. Separately, a warning against renewed attacks on neighbouring countries launched from Iraqi territory, attributed to al-Zaidi, was reported by Asharq al-Awsat, and no tracked militia channel answered it.

THINGS TO WATCH

A faction claims a response to the Saudi episode under its own brandlow likelihoodhigh impactAl-Ahad TV broadcast a warning that any party responding to what it called Saudi aggression should be treated as outside the law, while no militia has claimed such a response.

A named legal step against Adnan al-Jumailimedium likelihoodmedium impactAl-Ahad TV's guest said al-Jumaili cost Iraqis billions and that hundreds like him exist, and the same segment endorsed arrest moves against comparable figures.

AAH politicians repeat the compulsory-saving or anti-borrowing formula in their own voicemedium likelihoodmedium impactFour Al-Ahad posts held one fiscal line through guests rather than AAH figures, so a bloc politician stating it directly would mark the position as the party's.

Badr states its own position on armed factions contesting electionsmedium likelihoodmedium impactWatan TV twice distributed al-Abadi's line that no armed faction may run, without any statement that Badr endorses it.

The government names the parties reserved about handing over weaponslow likelihoodhigh impactAl-Ahad relayed the spokesman tying the commander-in-chief's office restructuring to talks with unnamed holdouts, with no timetable or enforcement step given.