Thursday, 29 October 2026

In Sinjar, the Yazidi Cause Alliance on Wednesday endorsed completing the Sinjar Protection Units’ integration into Iraq’s security system, following the units’ Monday agreement with Baghdad to end their independent military status. The alliance also sought compensation, return grants, faster displaced-person returns, camp closures, reconstruction and services. Turkey welcomed Iraqi measures in Sinjar and linked them to handing over Baashiqa base, according to Alsumaria. A Duhok official, however, said the agreement lacked return guarantees.

Separately, Baghdad’s Karkh Criminal Court announced Thursday that it had sentenced three French nationals to life imprisonment for affiliation with ISIS. The announcement followed Tuesday’s life sentences for six other French nationals and a 15-year sentence for another after convictions for ISIS membership. The court said legal counsel and French Embassy representatives attended the proceedings. The French nationals were among 47 suspects handed over to Iraq by Syria last year. Baghdad has repeatedly called on other countries to repatriate their nationals detained in Iraqi prisons over ISIS-affiliation charges.

In Maysan, General Customs Authority head Thamer Qasim Dawood said Wednesday that Sheeb crossing with Iran could reopen “at any moment”, after Baghdad closed it last week. He said customs staff and equipment remained at the crossing, with no order to withdraw them. Dawood described a high-risk crossing with almost no infrastructure, no weighbridges and a single scanner that breaks down. He put its possible daily revenue at 2 billion to 4 billion dinars. Al-Janoub TV (Harakat al-Jihad wal-Bina — official) reported continuing demonstrations outside the governorate building demanding reopening.

Badr Central Political Office head Muhammad Naji Muhammad on Wednesday told Badr MPs to reject merging PMF Law No. 40 of 2016 with service-and-retirement legislation. Al-Ghadeer TV (Badr Organization — official) carried his call to settle service, rank and retirement disputes separately. Former MP Kazim al-Touki identified the retirement-age provision affecting the PMF Authority’s head as the main obstacle to the bill’s passage. On Thursday, Al-Nujaba TV (Nujaba — official) carried programme guest Amal al-Shuwaili’s denial of a veto and assertion that personal disagreements were obstructing passage.

Sadiqoun MP Saad al-Khazali (AAH) said on Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) on Wednesday that negotiations continued with factions whose weapons had not yet been addressed. He said resistance weapons had fulfilled their role. He also said weapons displayed in the streets without organization under the relevant ministries fell outside the state framework. In Sinjar, the Yazidi Cause Alliance endorsed completing the Sinjar Protection Units’ integration into Iraq’s security system, following the units’ Monday agreement with Baghdad to end their independent military status. The alliance also sought compensation, return grants, faster displaced-person returns, reconstruction and services. Turkey welcomed Iraqi measures in Sinjar and linked them to handing over Baashiqa base, according to Alsumaria.

Separately, Al-Ahad carried the Integrity Commission’s Thursday announcement that Azm Alliance leader Muthanna al-Samarrai had received six years in prison and must repay 30 billion dinars. Al-Ittijah TV (KH — official) and iNEWS (KSS — affiliated) described al-Samarrai as an MP who benefited from North and South Refineries Company contracts. Al-Ghadeer also relayed the commission’s separate five-year sentence and four-billion-dinar repayment order against MP Ziad al-Janabi. The commission said al-Janabi used his parliamentary position to influence contract awards and payments to individuals and companies linked to him for personal financial gain.

Elsewhere in the south, Al-Ittijah reported continuing popular opposition and demands to reopen Shib, Maysan’s crossing with Iran, which Baghdad closed on 20 October. Al-Janoub TV (Harakat al-Jihad wal-Bina — official) reported continuing demonstrations outside the governorate building demanding reopening. Al-Nujaba TV put the number of families suffering severe economic hardship from the closure at 4,000. Al-Janoub headlined a segment featuring political researcher Muhammad al-Saadi with a warning that the economic fallout and external pressures threatened stability in Maysan and the south.

On Al-Ahad, Sadiqoun MP Qaysar al-Jurani (AAH) put Kurdistan’s oil production at 625,000 barrels daily and SOMO’s receipts at 185,000 barrels. He questioned where the difference went. KDP MP Bnas al-Doski instead cited SOMO’s director for production below 200,000 barrels daily. MP Ghalib Muhammad (Mowqif) put output above 400,000 barrels daily and called for a federal investigation into production. Saad al-Khazali separately said Kurdistan wanted 14 percent of the total budget without deducting sovereign expenditures.