Saturday, 31 October 2026

On security appointments, political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that agreements dividing senior government posts had reserved leadership of Iraq’s intelligence agency for Sunni Arabs. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi instead took direct control of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service on Thursday evening, three days after dismissing its chief, Hamid al-Shatri. The government said the dismissal was part of efforts to consolidate sovereignty and confront regional challenges. It has not said how long al-Zaidi will remain at the agency’s head.

Separately, the Communications Ministry announced Friday that Iraq would sign agreements with three countries on 9 November to route their internet traffic through Iraqi territory to Europe. The agreements are due to be signed in Doha, Qatar, during the International Telecommunication Union’s Plenipotentiary Conference. The ministry said they would strengthen Iraq’s position as a regional digital transit hub and international data corridor. It also claimed Iraq would become the world’s leading country in internet transit capacity routed through its territory, citing developments over the past four months. The ministry provided no comparative figures for that claim.

In Maysan, truck and taxi owners and Shib crossing workers protested Saturday for reopening of the crossing with Iran, which Baghdad closed on 20 October, according to Sabereen News (KH — affiliated) and Al-Ghadeer TV (Badr Organization — official). Workers told Sabereen that the closure had cut off their livelihoods and disrupted their work. Maysan’s governor called Friday for reopening because of the province’s economic crisis and rising prices. Maysan MP Saqr al-Muhammadawi (AAH — Sadiqoun) said the closure had disrupted thousands of residents’ work and warned of a popular response unless the crossing reopened. The protests came three days after General Customs Authority head Thamer Qasim Dawood said the crossing could reopen “at any moment”.

Maysan truck and taxi owners and Shib crossing workers protested for reopening on Saturday, following Baghdad’s 20 October closure of the crossing with Iran, according to Sabereen News (KH — affiliated) and Al-Ghadeer TV (Badr Organization — official). Sabereen quoted workers saying the closure had cut off their livelihoods and disrupted their work. On Friday, the channel had relayed Maysan’s governor’s demand for reopening because of the province’s economic crisis and rising prices. Maysan MP Saqr al-Muhammadawi (AAH — Sadiqoun) also said the closure had disrupted thousands of residents’ work and warned of a popular response unless it reopened. By Saturday, Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) carried demands for full rather than partial reopening, attributing the prospect of a limited reopening to leaks. Its report also said protesters wanted the reasons for the closure explained and that no government body had arrived to reassure them.

Separately, Sabereen on Saturday called a reported attack on fishing boats near Iran’s Qeshm Island American aggression. Al-Ittijah (KH — official) attributed an account of an American attack on two fishing boats near Qeshm to Hormozgan’s deputy governor. Watan TV (Badr Organization — affiliated) used the same aggression description but published competing Iranian and US explanations. The Iranian account it carried said the US military struck two fishing boats off Hormozgan’s coast near Larak Island. In the US explanation attributed to Axios, the boats were destroyed after trying to seize an American maritime drone. Al-Ghadeer and iNEWS (KSS — affiliated) relayed Fars’s account of a hostile-drone attack south of Qeshm, with Al-Ghadeer carrying a toll of two fishermen injured and two missing.

On Syria, Sabereen said on Friday that the Sham Preachers Forum had rejected the return of Shia religious tourism following the Iraqi prime minister’s visit to Syria. The channel described the forum as terrorist and loyal to al-Julani. The statement pictured in its post, however, condemned what the forum described as sectarian militias returning under cover of religious tourism. Sabereen’s caption therefore broadened that objection to Shia religious tourism itself. Later on Friday, the channel reported a large fire inside Damascus International Airport, introducing the report by describing Syria as occupied.