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RUDAWIraqi PM defends dinar devaluation amid public anger3HTHE NEW REGIONDrones target Iranian Kurdish opposition group in Erbil province3HSHAFAQTwo-drone attack targets refugee camp in Erbil3HTHE NEW REGIONCoordination Framework slams dinar devaluation, proposes relief measures4HSHAFAQPM Al-Zaidi explains 1,500-dinar dollar rate to parliament5HKURDISTAN24Iraqi PM: Speculators Benefited from Previous Dollar Rate Differential5HSHAFAQSource: Iraqi leaders backed dollar hike before announcement6HIRAQI NEWSSyria to provide alternative route for Iraq’s oil exports6HTHE NEW REGIONIraqi PM Zaidi to appear in parliament over dinar devaluation: MP7HIRAQI NEWSIraq offers $2.80 per barrel discount for November oil sales8HSHAFAQIraq targets zero North Oil flaring by 20278HSHAFAQPKK: All fighters withdrawn from Turkiye9HAPIraq rejects Syrian request to repatriate 4,000 suspected IS detainees, official says9HINAIraq and Kuwait Discuss Developing Security Cooperation and Enhancing the Security of Their Shared Border9H964 MEDIAFederal agency arrests terrorism suspect in Erbil in joint operation with Kurdish forces9H964 MEDIAIraq expands spending as Gulf states cut back, economist says10H
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IRAQ MONITOR · THE BRIEFING

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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