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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

MONDAY, 17 AUGUST 2026 · EVENING EDITION

The Daily Digest

Iraq's foreign ministry demanded an official explanation from Iran this evening over the predawn drone strikes on the Kurdistan Regional Government prime minister's office and the region's security chief's residence, seeking the explanation from Tehran directly, with no Iranian reply reported in either account. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered a probe into the attack, which the KRG premier himself said was carried out by Iranian drones against his office. US envoy Tom Barrack condemned the strike and the European Union condemned the attacks on both the office and the security chief's residence. The ministry's demand is the first Iraqi state act naming Iran over the strikes.

KDP lawmakers called the strikes a violation of Kurdistan's sovereignty, Kurdish leaders pressed Baghdad to act, and Iraqi and Kurdish parties joined the condemnation, while former prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said the attack on Kurdistan threatens Iraq's sovereignty and the Kurdistan diaspora confederation, describing the predawn strikes on Pirmam as "terrifying", demanded serious international action. The attack came a day after al-Sudani urged expedited delivery of advanced air-defense systems; a fresh account of that meeting says he discussed bolstering air defense in light of the recent strikes, without naming a supplier or a date.

On the security file, the Popular Mobilization Commission confirmed this afternoon that Abbas al-Yaqoubi, its Baghdad Belt intelligence official, had been handed to the Commission's own General Security Directorate under a judicial order, while press reporting cited a source calling the detainee Harakat al-Nujaba's intelligence chief — as today's militia digest sets out, the handover rests on two independent lines and the man's faction on one channel. A Kataib Hezbollah-linked bloc the same morning called the disarmament law "madness" that will not pass, and armed groups refused to hand over weapons before a US withdrawal, leaving the bill stalled. Iraqi intelligence separately warned of a plot to assassinate Supreme Court chief Faiq Zidan, whose judiciary the Commission says will decide al-Yaqoubi's case. The state is moving faction officials into court while the law meant to disarm their factions is pronounced dead.

On the economy, sources said the planned crude pipeline from Iraq to Syria's Baniyas terminal is still years away, with completion put at four years — an export route that cannot answer the Hormuz closure the finance minister has conceded caused direct effects. For the nearer term Baghdad adopted financial measures to address the Hormuz crisis and turned to non-oil revenue as the crisis deepened, while Iran's central bank governor arrived in the capital seeking to recover $11 billion and expand $12 billion in trade on the same day the foreign ministry demanded Tehran's explanation for Erbil.

Thousands of graduates protested in Baghdad demanding public-sector employment, a day after graduates clashed with security forces outside the health ministry. In the corruption file, MPs responding to the $6 million seized in the case involving the deputy electricity minister called for enforcement applied equally rather than to selected names, days after authorities arrested former lawmaker Kazem Sayadi in an extortion case.

THINGS TO WATCH
Sudani's ordered probe into the Erbil drone strikes states an attributionmedium likelihoodhigh impactThe prime minister ordered an investigation into strikes the KRG premier attributes to Iranian drones, so a published finding or a refusal to name a source is checkable.
Iraq names a supplier or a delivery date for the air-defense systems Sudani ordered expeditedmedium likelihoodhigh impactSudani pressed for faster delivery of advanced air defense the evening before the strikes and discussed bolstering it in light of them, without any supplier or date in either account.
The disarmament bill is put to a parliamentary vote or formally withdrawn from the agendamedium likelihoodhigh impactA Kataib Hezbollah-linked bloc says the law will not pass while armed groups refuse to hand over weapons before a US withdrawal, so the bill's place on the chamber's agenda will show which side is right.
Protective measures or an arrest announced over the plot against Supreme Court chief Faiq Zidanmedium likelihoodhigh impactIraqi intelligence has warned publicly of an assassination plot against Zidan, and either a protective order or a detention in the plot would be announced.
Baghdad states a decision on Iran's $11 billion recovery requestmedium likelihoodmedium impactIran's central bank governor came to Baghdad seeking release of $11 billion and wider trade, and an Iraqi release, refusal or deferral would be published by either central bank.
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