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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

WEDNESDAY, 5 AUGUST 2026 · EVENING EDITION

The Daily Digest

Iraq's armed factions have yet to decide how to answer the US-Saudi air strikes on Iran-aligned groups, Shafaq News reported this afternoon, hours after Kataib Hezbollah's official Al-Ittijah TV put the Islamic Resistance's deadline to respond at the day after tomorrow while the KH-affiliated Sabereen News and the Badr Organization's Al-Ghadeer TV each cited sources saying maximum alert would be lifted within hours — the countdown on one outlet, the stand-down on two, with the channel-by-channel account in the Militia Digest published beside this briefing. A member of parliament's defence and security committee said there is no evidence the attacks on neighbouring countries were launched from Iraqi territory, the first Iraqi official rebuttal of the charge that its soil was the launch pad. Al Jazeera reported the same day that Shia armed groups are defying the disarmament demand outright, and Kataib Hezbollah has told Asharq Al-Awsat it seeks to expand its 'resistance' arsenal.

Washington de-listed the Iraqi carrier Fly Baghdad today, removing sanctions it had previously imposed over links to Iran's IRGC, in Reuters's account, as Amwaj reports American forces packing up the last Iraqi air defences ahead of a withdrawal deadline.

On the economy, deputies are pushing for an emergency session on the financial crisis and delayed salaries and an investigation has been opened into the Finance Minister over the unpaid public wages, while the electricity-ministry walkout reported this morning has been followed by protests across Iraqi universities. Shafaq News, in an account it labels exclusive, puts currency in circulation past 86 billion dollars, the stock a government financial adviser cites in insisting the liquidity crisis does not mean bankruptcy.

Still on the economy, Baghdad has revived talks with Jordan and Egypt on the Basra-Aqaba pipeline, is studying a wider network to Turkey, Syria and Jordan, and an official puts restoration of the Iraq-Syria line at within three years — every route bypassing the strait through which Iraq shipped 30 million barrels last month, under a third of pre-war volumes on the monitor's count. Iraq Oil Report says the Turkey pipeline deal already sets a challenging target for Iraqi export volumes, and a thin national tanker fleet is costing the state millions in shipping revenue.

On religious tourism, Shafaq News reports that record Arbaeen crowds brought thin returns, with revenue draining away as Iran's economic collapse cut pilgrim spending — a shortfall published a day after the government's higher committee on the pilgrimage called the event's success a demonstration of security and stability, and set against the tourism ministry's vision of 10 million visitors by 2035.

In the north, Kirkuk's Kurdish parties left the door open to a unified bloc after talks today, and Turkey's government has now published the draft law to reintegrate PKK militants that Reuters trailed this morning. The Kurdistan Region's president, Nechirvan Barzani, is in Baghdad for the State Administration Coalition meeting, the ruling bloc's coordinating body due to weigh the factions' response to the strikes.

Also in the north, Christian representatives have asked the prime minister to halt land distribution in Nineveh, and the head of Nineveh's women's affairs department told KirkukNow that war forced women into breadwinning while government support remains absent.

THINGS TO WATCH
Parliament convenes the emergency session on salariesmedium likelihoodhigh impactDeputies pushed today for an emergency sitting on the liquidity crisis and delayed public pay; the speakership either sets a date or the push lapses.
Finance Minister summoned or referred in the salaries probemedium likelihoodhigh impactAn investigation of the Finance Minister over unpaid public wages was opened; a summons, referral or dismissal would settle whether it is procedural or political.
Kirkuk Kurdish parties announce a unified bloc or file separate listsmedium likelihoodmedium impactThe parties said today the door remains open to a single bloc, and list registration will force a public answer either way.
The State Administration Coalition issues a statement on the factions' responsehigh likelihoodhigh impactBarzani is attending the Baghdad meeting convened to weigh the factions' answer to the US-Saudi strikes, and a closing communiqué would show whether the bloc took a position.
Khor Mor gas volumes to the federal grid stated in megawatts or cubic feetmedium likelihoodmedium impactDana Gas and Crescent Petroleum began supplying Khor Mor gas to Kirkuk and the federal grid without a published volume; the electricity ministry routinely quantifies new supply.
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