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AL JAZEERASaudi intelligence chief meets Iraqi PM, renews Riyadh visit invitation29MSHAFAQCurrency issuance rose 13.8 percent through May6HBASNEWSIraq PM Guarantees No Iran-Backed Militia Attacks on Saudi Arabia7HIRAQI NEWSSaudi renews invitation to Iraq PM as Baghdad, Riyadh seek to repair ties8HIRAQI NEWSApple officially enters Iraq under new digital services framework8HRUDAWFinance Ministry report versus Central Bank figures: Is Iraq's external debt $10 billion or $53 billion?8HREUTERSIraqi PM, Saudi intelligence chief discuss regional security as militias delay response9HSHAFAQIraq dismantles human trafficking, organ trade networks9HSHAFAQIraqi authorities arrest eight in Dhi Qar corruption raid9HSHAFAQRiyadh sends new invitation to Iraqi PM Al-Zaidi10HRUDAWIraqi premier meets Saudi intelligence chief following airstrikes on PMF10HTHE NEW REGIONIraq’s Islamic Resistance delays retaliation to US-Saudi attack after Amiri appeal11HRUDAWIslamic resistance in Iraq delays response to US-Saudi strikes following restraint call11HSHAFAQDays to disarm Iraq's factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?11HASHARQ AL-AWSATBaghdad Bolsters Deployment in 'Vulnerable' Areas, Warns Armed Factions11HSHAFAQSyria exports 2M tons of Iraqi oil via Baniyas12H
Iraq Monitorعين على العراقPrimary-source intelligence
THE BRIEFING · A PERMANENT EDITION

Friday, 7 August 2026

EVENING EDITION

The Daily Digest

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, in a statement signed in its collective name, called off the response it had set for 7 August to the US-Saudi strikes on Popular Mobilization facilities, answering Badr Organization secretary-general Hadi al-Amiri's appeal for restraint and the positions of some political leaders. Six tracked factions carried near-identical wording within ten minutes and none rejected the pause; no faction named the postponed operation, its object or a new date, and no faction claimed any attack — the channel-by-channel account is in the Militia Digest beside this briefing. Baghdad spent the same day moving the other way: it reinforced deployments in areas it called vulnerable with a further warning to the armed factions, promulgated the anti-terrorism law with severe penalties, and declared state control of weapons "irreversible" with no turning back from disarmament before the ruling coalition's 30 September deadline.

Prime Minister al-Zaydi met the Saudi intelligence chief in Baghdad on Friday evening, days after the American and Saudi strikes on the PMF; the military spokesman said Iraq will not be drawn into regional conflicts and has no coordination with Iranian advisers. The Houthis meanwhile escalated attacks on Saudi Arabia amid reports of a coordinated threat from Iraq and Yemen, and the interior ministry called the borders secure and stable.

On the economy, Pearl Petroleum rejected the Kurdistan Regional Government's breach allegations over Khor Mor gas supplied to Baghdad's electricity ministry, after the KRG accused Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum of breaching contract and warned of legal action. The Region's fiscal ask is separate and now scheduled: the KRG says it will press Baghdad on jobs and the 2027 budget in upcoming talks, with the federal side carrying an 80 trillion dinar projected deficit and Brent's prompt month at 83.75 dollars a barrel on the desk's live series.

Still on the economy, the US Federal Reserve sent a 500 million dollar cash shipment to Iraq, while India's Reliance booked a supertanker at a record freight price to lift Iraqi crude — a freight cost carried on every barrel Iraq ships east as the export slump drives the deficit.

On the security file away from the factions, Anbar authorities dismantled a drug network and seized 408,000 captagon pills, and Iraqi forces seized 80,000 litres of smuggled oil and arrested five. Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani marked Assyrian Martyrs' Day, vowing the Region will remain a "shared homeland".

THINGS TO WATCH
Baghdad or Riyadh publishes an outcome from the Saudi intelligence chief's Baghdad visitmedium likelihoodhigh impactThe premier received the Saudi intelligence chief days after the strikes on the PMF, and a readout or a follow-on delegation would show whether the channel produced anything beyond the meeting.
Pearl Petroleum or the KRG initiates formal proceedings over Khor Mor suppliesmedium likelihoodmedium impactThe KRG warned of legal action over gas it says was supplied to Baghdad without its approval and Pearl has now rejected the breach allegations outright, leaving filing or arbitration as the next observable step.
A named arrest or charge brought under the newly promulgated anti-terrorism lawlow likelihoodhigh impactBaghdad promulgated the law with severe penalties as forces entered high readiness, so a case brought under the text would show it is operative rather than declaratory.
DNO raises its offer for Genel Energy or withdrawsmedium likelihoodmedium impactGenel's board rejected DNO's takeover proposal outright, which leaves the bidder to improve terms or step away over the Kurdistan asset base.
KRG-Baghdad talks on jobs and the 2027 budget are heldmedium likelihoodmedium impactThe KRG says it will press Baghdad on jobs and the 2027 budget in upcoming talks, and a session convening — or not — is observable against the federal 80 trillion dinar deficit.

The Militia Digest

A statement signed in the collective name of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said the response set for 7 August was postponed, answering the call by Hajj Abu Hassan al-Amiri — the Badr Organization secretary-general whose appeal for restraint the factions carried in the early hours — and the positions of some political leaders. The text says the martyrs' blood "was not and will not be a commodity in the market of political balances", tells those "whom the chair has blinded" to reconsider, and warns the American enemy and its regional allies that sovereignty is recovered by fists rather than timid statements. Six tracked factions carried near-identical wording within ten minutes — Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Badr Organization, Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Nujaba and Ashab al-Kahf — and no tracked channel rejected the pause or offered a competing account. Kataib Hezbollah's Al-Ittijah TV ran the decision under a segment headlined "after the deadline expired", and press reports the same hour described it as a delay to a planned retaliatory strike on US-Saudi interests; no faction named the postponed operation, its object or a new date, and no faction claimed any attack.

On the same statement the factions split over the one detail that matters operationally. The shared text names no state, but Al-Ghadeer TV (Badr Organization — official) posted a headline saying the postponed response was "against Saudi Arabia", and Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) followed with "to the Saudi aggression", while no Kataib Hezbollah, Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada or Ashab al-Kahf channel in the window named the Kingdom. Al-Ghadeer TV also wrote the caller's name plainly as Hadi al-Amiri where the signed text uses only the honorific.

In the militia space, Kataib Hezbollah's Al-Ittijah TV pulled in two directions inside half an hour: it carried the postponement, then ran political analyst Salah al-Amshani framing the deferral as a "safety valve" and, in a second segment, saying the government's and some political leaders' response to the Saudi aggression went no further than condemnation and fell below the level of responsibility. Al-Amshani is presented as an analyst, not a Kataib Hezbollah official.

Unit 10,000 (KH — affiliated) turned on the man credited with the pause, publishing a cartoon contrasting the filmed tribal reconciliations of Hadi al-Amiri and Atiya al-Kildani, saying "the camera has become an alternative to decision" and that sovereignty is deferred to the next episode while any neighbour keeps testing Iraq's patience. No Badr Organization response to the post appears. The same channel separately relayed an anonymous "Saudi source" describing continuous air alert on the Saudi-Iraqi border out of fear of a retaliatory attack by Iraqi factions; no outside coverage of that alert appears, and the post names no group, target or timing.

Badr-affiliated Watan TV carried the two halves of the day at twelve minutes' distance: a statement attributed to "the factions" telling the American enemy and its regional allies that their martyrs' blood is the fuel of their steadfastness, and, just before it, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi telling the head of Saudi intelligence that Iraq will not permit its territory to be used as a launch point against any neighbouring state. Neither item is presented as a Badr Organization statement in its own voice. Rudaw reported the premier's meeting with the Saudi intelligence chief following the airstrikes on Popular Mobilization sites, and Asharq al-Awsat reported Baghdad reinforcing deployments in "vulnerable" areas and warning armed factions. Shafaq News reported, as a scoop, that an Iraqi arrangement has paused faction retaliation against Saudi Arabiano militia channel claimed, denied or acknowledged that arrangement, and the report names no faction or party to it.

On the domestic front, three channels spent the day on state failure and state authority rather than on Saudi Arabia. Al-Ittijah TV ran a correspondent report on Babylon University professors protesting late salaries, while iNEWS (KSS — affiliated) reported a financial-oversight finding of a 131 billion dinar discrepancy in 2024 electricity accounts — neither naming a minister, ministry or contractor. Al-Kornet al-Kata'ibi (KSS — affiliated) and Al-Ghadeer TV posted the Interior Ministry's July figures of more than 20,000 personal weapons registered in identical wording ten minutes apart, adding no faction voice and not saying whether the weapons were civilian or faction-linked; Al-Nujaba TV (Nujaba — official) relayed politician Mohammed Turki saying the Popular Mobilization can be ended only by a vote of the Council of Representatives.

THINGS TO WATCH
A new date or an attack claim under a named faction brandmedium likelihoodhigh impactThe postponement statement specifies no replacement date, object or authoring group, so the next observable is either a fresh date in one faction's voice or a claimed attack under a tracked brand.
A faction publicly rejects the pauselow likelihoodhigh impactSix factions carried the same text with no dissent in the window, so any single channel breaking with the deferral would be a visible change against that record.
Kataib Hezbollah or Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada names Saudi Arabia in its own voicemedium likelihoodmedium impactBadr's Al-Ghadeer TV and AAH's Al-Ahad TV named the Kingdom while KH, KSS and Ashab al-Kahf renderings stopped at "the American enemy and its allies".
A Badr Organization statement answering the Unit 10,000 satirelow likelihoodmedium impactA KH-affiliated channel named Hadi al-Amiri unfavourably over his filmed reconciliation and no Badr response appears, so an organisational reply would mark the dispute as open.
A faction confirms or denies the reported Iraqi arrangementmedium likelihoodmedium impactShafaq News reported a deal pausing retaliation against Saudi Arabia and no militia channel has addressed it either way.
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The Briefing — Friday, 7 August 2026, evening edition · Iraq Monitor