The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) held a ceremony today in Erbil, where it announced the unification of its Peshmerga forces. Kurdistan Region’s President Nechirvan Barzani and the KRG’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani both gave speeches, highlighting this achievement. They also cautioned about the greater challenges that lay ahead as coalition forces withdraw and regional conflict remains a concern.

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• Prime Minister travels to France and Germany

• RDC MP sentenced to prison

• Iraqi Ambassador to US begins mandate

• Head of Maysan Operations Command dismissed

• YBS to hand over their weapons

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Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi was in Europe this week, visiting France and Germany. Trips to Europe are far less controversial than to the US. Iraqi politicians in the pro-Iranian camp frequently frame improving relations with Europe as a means of decreasing American influence. While European countries took an interest in Iraqi affairs when the war during ISIS created a migrant crisis, that interest has waned in recent years, especially as the Russian invasion of Ukraine shook European capitals.

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The 27^th Baghdad International Book Fair wrapped up over the weekend. It is an opportunity for Iraqis to purchase books from local and international publishers, attend book talks with authors, and increasingly with Iraqi politicians as well. The most significant of these talks took place on the penultimate day with Humam Hamoudi, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and member of the Coordination Framework leadership council.

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• Speaker travels to Ankara

• OFAC announces new sanctions

• Iraq Al-Hadath TV owner arrested

• Coordination Framework discuss PMF law

• Former speaker denies involvement in Sunni conference

• Iraq inaugurates building at Arab League HQ

• Iraqi FA President meets FIFA President

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Former Iraqi MP from Salahuddin province, Mishan Al-Jubouri, released a four-page statement on September 3 calling for a conference for Sunni Arabs in Iraq to discuss their future in the country. The statement covers several themes including decentralization and frustration with the backtracking on demobilization. Although there are no other individuals who have associated themselves with this statement, it is signed off by “the preparatory committee for the conference for Arab Sunnis in Iraq”. This has resulted in an uproar online, with many prominent Iraqi intellectuals speaking out against this initiative as a divisive and sectarian move.

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• Resistance factions respond to September 30 deadline

• Former finance minister’s visa to the US revoked

• New US chargé d’affaires to Iraq appointed

• Kidnapper of American journalist sentenced to prison

• Dhi Qar elects a new governor

• Government caves to private generator owners’ demands

• Prime Minister announces trip to Europe

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Over the past few years, an unlikely alliance has been developing between Muqtada Al-Sadr, leader of the Shia National Movement, and Mohammad-Ridha Al-Sistani, son of the most senior cleric in Najaf. In the past, these two figures stood in opposition to one another but recently, they find themselves united by common factors.

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One of the four main groups that make up the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, Kataib Sayyid Al-Shuhada, released a statement over the weekend, in which they laid out their conditions for disarmament. Their demands were similar to the ones laid out two weeks ago by Kataib Hezbollah, reinforcing their opposition to the September 30 deadline to disarm and integrate.

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• Prime Minister marks 100 days in office

• Head of judiciary travels to Tehran

• More backtracking on September 30 deadline

• Security forces clash with armed residents

• Coordination Framework leadership council expands

• Customs and oil revenue trend upwards

• Germany concludes military mission in Iraq

• Iraq hosts security meetings with Saudi Arabia

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Last Saturday marked the first hundred days in office for Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi. Unlike his predecessors, Zaidi has never held public office before and is largely unknown to the 46 million Iraqi citizens that his government is responsible for. The start of his premiership has been overwhelmed by the pressure to navigate Iraq through the ongoing war between Iran and the US/Israel.

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• Iranian speaker visits Iraq

• Head of judiciary travels to Riyadh

• Harakat Al-Nujaba official arrested and released

• KRG Prime Minister allegedly targeted

• New TBI president appointed

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Meeting the September 30 deadline for disarmament and integration of armed groups was always going to be a monumental task for Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi. He has already faced challenges of implementing the integration of armed groups that are willing to cooperate, meaning that the task ahead with more hardline groups will be even more difficult. The recent release of Abbas Al-Yaqoubi, an intelligence official from Harakat Al-Nujaba, underscores the difficulty facing the new government of not only taking a position, but seeing it through. Al-Yaqoubi was arrested for the June 2021 killing of Colonel Nibras Farman Shaaban Al-Fayli, the head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service’s Rusafa Office, but was cleared for insufficient evidence.

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American outlet Axios reported over the weekend that the US government had reached out to the president of Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, back in May, to mediate between Iran and the US. The report carries implications for institutions in Iraq and in the Kurdistan Region, as it speaks to where the Kurds stand in this conflict.

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• Cabinet approves government program

• Anti-corruption arrests continue

• Head of judiciary travels to Damascus

• High-level security delegation travels to Riyadh

• Badr Organization cautions approach to disarmament

• Iraq rejects Colombia’s recognition of Israel over the Golan Heights

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The Central Anti-Corruption Criminal Court in Baghdad issued two arrest warrants on Sunday for the former Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Ahmed Al-Asadi. Asadi’s situation has spiraled quickly as he went from potentially becoming a minister again to having his residence in Baghdad raided.

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• State Administration Coalition holds meeting

• Iraq-Turkey pipeline transit agreement extended

• Foreign Minister attends Ministerial Meeting in Support of Jerusalem

• Kurdistan Region’s President visits Damascus

• Fly Baghdad removed from US sanctions

• Arbaeen pilgrimage concludes

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After Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi initially failed to secure an extension to the expired 1973 Iraq-Turkey pipeline transit agreement during his trip to Ankara last week, a deal between the Iraqi and Turkish governments was reached over the weekend to extend the agreement for one year.

Influence and pressure from the United States is shaping Iraq’s relations with Turkey and Syria, particularly in the energy sector. American influence in the energy sector is growing even as US troop presence is coming to an end in Iraq. During Zaidi’s visit to Washington, he heralded this substitution of American troops for American companies, a sellable slogan to both the American and Iraqi publics. At the same time, Zaidi is not the architect of this idea, but it is central to an American vision of a new regional order.

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• Prime Minister travels to Ankara

• US-Saudi airstrikes target Iraq

• Lebanese Prime Minister visits Baghdad

• Taqaddum leader meets with KDP

• Ukraine refutes orchestrating attacks in Iraq

• Kuwaiti Interior Minister visits Basra

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Earlier today, the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq, targeting Hashd locations in multiple provinces. These strikes have resulted in the killing of at least 20 paramilitary members and injuring another 32, some of whom were Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members. Although US strikes targeting armed groups in Iraq is not a new development, the announcement that this was done in collaboration with Saudi Arabia marks an unprecedented escalation in Iraqi-Saudi relations.

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