The Militia Digest
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Kataib Hezbollah of carrying out the attack on Saudi Arabia’s main oil pipeline. Reconstruction and Development Bloc MP Mansour al-Baiji told Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) that Israeli intelligence cells inside Iraq had attacked Saudi Arabia. Political-affairs researcher Essam Hussein, another guest on the channel, said Yemen had acknowledged an attack and denied Iraqi faction involvement. Al-Monitor reported that the Iraqi government acknowledged the drones originated in Maysan. Iraqi investigators had located launch platforms inside Iraq, but the reported origin does not establish who launched the drones. Rubio has named a faction; al-Baiji and Hussein have offered different accounts, neither of them a faction declaration.
Press reports attribute to Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi a plan to halt faction attacks for 90 days after the coalition mission ends on 30 September and transfer weapons to state control by 30 June 2027, after security adviser Qasim al-Araji said the weapons committee had no fixed completion deadline. Other accounts say the first phase would also stop faction statements and military activity from Iraqi territory through 1 January 2027; the reported plan would absorb fighters individually into state forces and treat groups still armed after June as outside the law. Alsumaria reported plans for a PMF directorate to receive weapons under government supervision, with handovers beginning in January; the directorate has not been established. A timetable and programme for state control of weapons would be announced on 30 September. Separately, the US State Department said the coalition military withdrawal remains on track for 30 September. Nujaba military deputy Abdul Qadir al-Karbalai said the resistance and PMF would not retreat, while KSS secretary-general Abu Alaa al-Walai said weapons regulation could begin only after all foreign forces left Iraq. Riyadh al-Tamimi (AAH — Sadiqoun MP) called regulation a national demand but sought sovereignty guarantees; Reconstruction and Development Bloc MP Mansour al-Baiji placed handover after US compliance. Al-Mawred Center head Najem al-Qasab, speaking on Al-Ahad, said every faction except Nujaba and Kataib Hezbollah had begun handing over weapons, but no faction he described as complying has confirmed a handover.
Separately, Badr parliamentary bloc spokesman Hamed Abbas al-Mousawi warned Baghdad and the Civil Aviation Authority against enforcing reported US restrictions on Iranian airlines, due to take effect on 23 September. Falih al-Khazali (KSS — Muntasirun MP) also warned against submitting to US pressure in remarks carried by Al-Ittijah TV (KH — official). Al-Nujaba TV (Nujaba — official) posted Najaf airport’s schedule listing Iranian flights for Wednesday, while an airport notice said it had received no official instruction to stop accepting them. Sabereen News (KH — affiliated) said ground handler Menzies had stopped services and alleged it was acting on US embassy instructions. iNEWS (KSS — affiliated) relayed Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports’ statements that Iran flights continued without a formal suspension notice, alongside an explanation that private handlers had declined service for fear of sanctions. The airport statements concern official instructions; the Najaf schedule does not establish that every listed flight operated.
Faction channels reported a seven-year sentence for MP Alia Nassif on corruption charges. The desk counted 11 of 33 watched channels across five networks focused on her. Al-Ghadeer TV (Badr Organization — official) cited a judicial source for the sentence, while Al-Ahad described a 27-billion-dinar fine as circulating. Unit 10,000 (KH — affiliated) attributed an order to return more than 61 billion dinars to the Integrity Commission. A separate report citing an informed source put repayments and fines together at nearly 27 billion dinars. The channels agree on the sentence, but their accounts give different sums and describe different financial orders.