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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

SATURDAY, 22 AUGUST 2026 · EVENING EDITION

The Daily Digest

Asaib Ahl al-Haq's own television channel spent Saturday afternoon building a case for removing the man who runs the Popular Mobilization Forces. Between 13:47 and 14:13, Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) ran four segments in under half an hour on PMF chairman Falih al-Fayadh's failure to appear at a parliamentary questioning session, with political science professor Ammar al-Bahadli telling the channel Fayadh can be removed under legal and constitutional procedures and legal expert Sa'd al-Bakhati saying the rules bind anyone regardless of office. A second run of four segments carried on-screen text saying Fayadh refused to form a fact-finding committee and that warning of the Saudi-American strikes on PMF sites reached him three hours in advance without units being told to evacuate.

Sadiqoun MP Rajaa al-Harbi said on the same channel that Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had told MPs the attack was reported before it happened and that her bloc is moving to vote the PMF Authority law as fast as possible — a law press reports the same day said remains stalled over a dispute about the chairman's tenure, and the removal argument came from the channel's outside guests, not from any named AAH office-holder.

Military intelligence seized drones and weapons in Maysan on 22 August, the day after the government spokesperson ruled out any foreign mediation on the weapons talks and the speaker fixed his end-September timeline for state arms collection. The president has since put a boundary on that exercise, saying the Peshmerga are not part of the weapons process, which carves Erbil's forces out of a drive running to the same date as the coalition withdrawal — a date that falls with Iraq's air defence procurement still in disarray over a stalled South Korean deal, Amwaj reported. Parliament will separately review the Iraq-France strategic pact, Kurdistan24 reported.

On the economy, Iranian state media said Tehran has let some Iraqi tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the concession Baghdad asked for during the Iranian speaker's visit, and Reuters put the grant at a number of Iraqi oil tankers — a batch, not a standing right. Al-Zaidi is seeking alternative oil export routes while guaranteeing salaries, Iraqi and Saudi officials have discussed energy security and oil market stability, and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf urged Baghdad to break its economic dependence on Washington. The route Baghdad has is the one Tehran controls.

In the north, the Kirkuk governor disclosed new energy talks with Turkey while pledging a smooth transfer of power in the province, and a British energy major aims to raise Kirkuk's oil and gas output; the KRG has filed a 2027 budget proposal prioritising salaries and entitlements. An education official says nearly 20,000 electricity ministry employees are illiterate, Rudaw reported on 22 August — a measure of the workforce the ministry running the country's power supply employs.

THINGS TO WATCH
Baghdad names a specific alternative oil export routemedium likelihoodhigh impactAl-Zaidi said he is seeking corridors beyond Hormuz while guaranteeing salaries, so naming a pipeline or terminal would show whether the search has a candidate.
A second batch of Iraqi tankers cleared, or turned back, at Hormuzmedium likelihoodmedium impactIranian state media described the passage as permission for some tankers, leaving the next convoy as the test of whether this is standing policy or a single gesture.
The KRG or Peshmerga ministry states a position on the arms-process carve-outmedium likelihoodhigh impactThe Iraqi president said the Peshmerga are not part of the weapons process, and Erbil has not said in this material whether it accepts that framing before end-September.
Another announced weapons seizure by Iraqi intelligence before end-Septemberhigh likelihoodmedium impactThe Maysan drone and weapons seizure is the enforcement action on record under the speaker's collection timeline, and whether more follow shows if the deadline is being worked.
Parliament holds a session on the Iraq-France strategic pactmedium likelihoodmedium impactKurdistan24 reported parliament will review the pact, which would put a Western security relationship on the floor as the coalition withdrawal date approaches.
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