The Militia Digest
Sadiqoun (AAH — parliamentary bloc) demanded government action on the dollar’s rise and goods prices on Wednesday through Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official), after the cabinet approved a public selling rate of 1,520 dinars per dollar on Tuesday. iNEWS (KSS — affiliated) had called the reported rate change a rumor that evening. By Wednesday, it was carrying the new public selling rate. MP Shaima al-Fatlawi demanded that the Finance Ministry reconsider the increase, in remarks carried by Al-Nujaba TV (Nujaba — official). MP Saba al-Saadi said the finance minister and Central Bank governor would face parliamentary interrogation. Sabereen News (KH — affiliated) alleged that the government had tipped off associates who bought dollars in advance. Al-Kornet al-Kata’ibi (KSS — affiliated) reported medicine depots stopping work in Baghdad. Press reports also described exchange offices halting conversions after the market rate passed 170,000 dinars per $100.
MP Falih al-Khazali (KSS — Muntasirun bloc head) demanded on Tuesday that PMF Service and Retirement Law No. 40 of 2016 be restored to the Commission’s proposed text without deletions or substitutions. He alleged that the government had changed it. Sabereen News alleged deletions including retroactive effect from 13 June 2014, the contracts directorate and the military appeals court. Former Hikma MP Hassan Fadum, appearing on Al-Ahad TV, said the Staff College and al-Muhandis Company may have been removed. On the PMF Authority bill, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported preparations for resubmission after extensive amendments by officials selected by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, citing unnamed sources. Reconstruction and Development Coalition spokesperson Firas al-Muslamawi said his coalition had asked parliament’s presidency to schedule the PMF law. He also said it was proceeding with incorporating PMF salary differences in the 2027 budget.
Separately in Hawija, Al-Janoub TV (Harakat al-Jihad wal-Bina — official) reported on Tuesday that large PMF reinforcements had arrived after ISIS attacks on security forces and the PMF. iNEWS said Federal Police and the PMF surrounded ISIS members at al-Arisha School in the al-Danadish sector. Al-Janoub TV credited Federal Police with killing four ISIS members inside a school near Barghuliya point. The PMF said the attack had been repelled without human losses, in a statement carried by Watan TV (Badr — affiliated). Kurdistan24 separately reported two suspected ISIS militants attacking a PMF base and destroying a thermal surveillance camera.
In Basra, Unit 10,000 (KH — affiliated) and Shabab al-Islam (Ashab al-Kahf — owned, non-official) alleged arrests in Basra on Tuesday over people burning American and Israeli flags and an image of US President Donald Trump the previous day. Al-Nujaba TV challenged al-Zaidi’s investigation into US-flag trampling at Baghdad’s 1 October Sovereignty Day parade, arguing that burning the American flag was not a crime even in the United States. Reconstruction and Development Coalition political-bureau member Muhammad al-Mutlaibi, a guest on Al-Ahad TV, called burning another country’s flag unacceptable. He said it could draw Iraq into an economic crisis.
Separately, iNEWS forecast a vote to complete the government on 10 October. Al-Nujaba TV described continued bargaining and said new positions were obstructing cabinet completion. Sabereen News relayed politician Izzat al-Shabandar’s accusation that an American veto over a deputy-prime-minister candidate had been lifted. He criticized an announcement that a deal for four deputy prime ministers was nearing completion.