Key Takeaways:

• Protests Turn Deadly As Tensions Rise In Kirkuk; Top Court Strikes Down Border Treaty With Kuwait – On September 2, violent clashes erupted in Kirkuk over the possession of a building used as the local headquarters of security forces that was once the main local office of the KDP. The clashes, which involved KDP supporters, Arab and Turkmen locals, and security forces, left at least four dead and 15 wounded. The clashes began after KDP supporters held a demonstration demanding the reopening of the main road between Kirkuk and Erbil, which had been closed by protesters opposed to a government decision to return the building to the KDP. Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court got involved in the standoff, issuing an order on Sunday to block the handover of the building to the KDP. KRG PM Masrour Barzani condemned the Court’s order, calling it a “farce.” Although a temporary curfew in the city was lifted by September 4, Iraq’s Defense Ministry deployed additional security forces on the streets of Kirkuk in anticipation of further unrest. On September 4, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled that parliament’s ratification of a 2013 treaty with Kuwait concerning navigation in the Khor Abdullah channel violated article 61 of Iraq’s constitution. The Court’s ruling was in response to a case filed by lawmakers affiliated with the Kataib Hezbollah militia. In other developments, on September 5, Iraq’s Finance Ministry said the government instructed the state-owned Rafidain and Rasheed banks to sign a loan agreement with the KRG for the purpose of paying civil servants’ salaries in the Kurdistan region. The loan would be subtracted from the KRG’s share of the budget “after they comply with the provisions of the budget law.” The KRG said the move falls short of meeting the federal government’s financial obligations towards the region and argued that it had met all of its obligations under the law. more…
• Rare Bomb Explosion Rocks Erbil; Sudani Changes Military Academy Admission Rules – On September 1, the counter-terrorism service of the Kurdistan region said that a bomb exploded Friday evening on a pedestrian bridge across the 60 Meter Street in central Erbil. The explosion caused material damage but there were no reports of casualties. On September 5, a spokesman for PM Sudani said the commander in chief had issued orders to cancel “all exemptions concerning admissions in military and security colleges and institutions.” According to the statement, all future admissions would be governed by “the law and established standards and metrics” in order to “establish fairness and equality among applicants,” without providing further details. In other developments, on September 5, a Turkish military aircraft attacked a vehicle that was transporting members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Pshdar district of Sulaymaniyah province. It is unclear how many casualties, if any, were caused by the airstrike. more…
• Limited Return Of Yazidi IDPs To Sinjar Continues – On September 1, the Iraqi Ministry for Migration and the Displaced said that a new group of 179 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Iraq’s Yazidi community had returned voluntarily from IDP camps in Duhok to their districts of origin in Sinjar. In August, ministry officials said the number of Yazidi IDPs who had returned to Sinjar this year was approximately 4,000. In other developments, on September 7, the KRG Minister of Health said that health labs in the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah provinces had confirmed at least 117 cases of Cholera so far this summer. The official attributed the latest outbreak of the endemic water-borne disease to ongoing problems with the processing and distribution of drinking water across the region. more…
• Oil Exports Hold Steady In August While Northern Sales Face More Delays; Iraq Begins Building Railroad Link To Iran – On September 1, Iraq’s Oil Ministry said that crude oil exports averaged 3.423 million bpd in August, just 20,000 bpd lower than July. The exports generated $8.84 billion in revenue, a jump of more than $500 million from the previous month on higher average sale prices. The vast majority of oil was shipped from Iraq’s southern fields through the ports of Basra, while exports from Kirkuk and the Kurdistan region remained suspended and were unlikely to resume before October. Senior Turkish sources said this week that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has delayed a planned trip to Baghdad, when he’s expected to finalize an agreement to resume the exports, until October, because Iraq “has not taken the tangible steps” that Ankara expects from Baghdad. On September 2, PM Mohammed al-Sudani laid the cornerstone for a new railroad project that will connect Basra with Iran through the Shalamcheh border crossing. The development comes after Iraq and Iran signed an agreement in April for the transportation of passengers via the planned railroad connection. In other developments, on September 4, Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources said Iraq was currently receiving less than 40% of its fair share of water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. To compensate for the shortage, the Ministry installed pumps to extract water from dead storage space at lake Tharthar, providing an additional 70-80 cubic meters per second. more…

For more background on most of the institutions, key actors, political parties, and locations mentioned in our takeaways or in the stories that follow, see the ISHM Reference Guide.

Protests Turn Deadly As Tensions Rise In Kirkuk; Top Court Strikes Down Border Treaty With Kuwait

On September 2, violent clashes erupted in the city of Kirkuk over the possession of a building used as the local headquarters of security forces that was once the main local office of  the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The clashes, which involved KDP supporters, Arab and Turkmen locals, and security forces, left at least four dead and 15 wounded. Most of the victims were Kurds, according to medical and police sources. The clashes began on Saturday after KDP supporters held a demonstration demanding the reopening of the main road between Kirkuk and Erbil. The road had been closed since last week, when hundreds of protesters began a sit-in in objection to a government decision to return the building to the KDP. The Kurdish party abandoned the building in October of 2017, when the Iraqi army took control of Kirkuk in the aftermath of a controversial referendum on independence that was conducted by the KDP. The KDP accused factions from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) of staging the sit-in to prevent the party from reestablishing its presence in the disputed city. Arab and Turkmen groups in Kirkuk, who participated in the protests, have expressed concern that the KDP’s return to Kirkuk ahead of the provincial election will be destabilizing for the province. Amid the violence, Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani ordered security forces to impose curfew in Kirkuk and round up those responsible for the unrest. The curfew was lifted two days later on Monday, and Sudani also gave orders to release those detained during the events, while pledging during a meeting with Kirkuk lawmakers to prosecute those who were responsible for the violence. Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court got involved in the standoff too, issuing a binding order on Sunday to block the handover of the building to the KDP. Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan regional government and senior KDP leader condemned the Court’s order in a brief comment posted on X/Twitter, calling it a “farce.” Anticipating further unrest this coming weekend, Iraq’s Defense Ministry deployed additional security forces on the streets of Kirkuk, news reports said on Thursday. The Iraqi military’s chief of staff and the commander of ground forces were reportedly on the ground in Kirkuk as well to oversee the situation. 

On September 4, the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq issued a ruling that nullified the ratification of a 2013 treaty between Iraq and Kuwait that regulated maritime navigation in the Khor Abdullah channel on the Persian Gulf. In its ruling, the Court said the ratification violated article 61.4th of the Iraqi constitution, which states that the process of ratifying international treaties must be governed by a law passed by a two thirds majority in parliament. The Court’s ruling was in response to a case filed by lawmaker Saud al-Saidi, who is a member of the Huqooq bloc, the political wing of the Kataib Hezbollah militia. Raed al-Maliki, another lawmaker in favor of overthrowing the treaty, praised the Court’s decision saying that the agreement with Kuwait had “surrendered part of Iraq’s sovereignty, and we proved that it was in conflict with the Iraqi constitution.” 

On September 5, Iraq’s Finance Ministry said that the government had issued instructions on September 3 to the state-owned Rafidain and Rasheed banks to sign a loan agreement with the Finance Ministry of the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) for the purpose of paying the salaries of civil servants in the Kurdistan region. The loan, to be guaranteed by the federal Finance Ministry, would be subtracted from the funds allocated to the KRG under the federal budget “after they comply with the provisions of the budget law.” The KRG said the move falls short of meeting the federal government’s obligations towards the region under the budget law. In a statement on September 6, the KRG said the loans, set at IQD500 billion a month, were authorized only for the months of September through November, and failed to address the region’s needs for June, July, and August. Furthermore, the statement said the amount is much smaller than the IQD1.375 trillion the region is entitled to under the budget, and insufficient to cover the public sector’s monthly payroll of IQD906 billion. The KRG also argued that it had met its obligations under the budget law, which requires the KRG to hand over oil production and non-oil revenue to federal authorities, without providing further details.

Sources cited in this section include: INA, AP, Reuters, al-Hurra, ISHM archive, Rudaw, Kurdistan24, Shafaq, al-Mada, KRG. 

Rare Bomb Explosion Rocks Erbil; Sudani Changes Military Academy Admission Rules

On September 1, the counter-terrorism service of the Kurdistan region of Iraq said that a bomb exploded Friday evening on a pedestrian bridge across the 60 Meter Street in central Erbil. The explosion caused some material damage to the bridge but there were no reports of casualties. 

On September 4, security sources in Baghdad said that six individuals were wounded in a grenade explosion in al-Alawi area of central Baghdad. According to the source, the grenade attack was connected to a family dispute. To the south, in Dhi-Qar province, unidentified individuals on motorcycles attacked the residence of a local physician with a hand grenade. The attack, which took place in the Karmat Bani Saad subdistrict on September 6, caused only material damage. 

On September 5, Kurdistan24 reported that a Turkish military aircraft struck a vehicle that was transporting members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) near the village of Bokreskan in the Pshdar district of Sulaymaniyah province. It is unclear if the airstrike, which reportedly caused a large fire in the area, had caused any casualties. 

On September 5, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani said the commander in chief had issued orders to cancel “all exemptions concerning admission in military and security colleges and institutions.” According to the statement, all future admissions would be competitive and governed by “the law and established standards and metrics” in order to “establish fairness and equality among applicants,” without providing further details.  

On September 6, security sources in Basra said that an explosive remnant of war (ERW) detonated in the province’s southern subdistrict of Safwan, near the border with Kuwait. The explosion killed one civilian, a man in his twenties, the sources added. 

Sources cited in this section include: Shafaq, al-Sumaria, Kurdistan24, INA, NINA. 

Limited Return Of Yazidi IDPs To Sinjar Continues

On September 1, the Iraqi Ministry for Migration and the Displaced said that a new group of 179 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Iraq’s Yazidi community had returned voluntarily from IDP camps in Duhok to their districts of origin in Sinjar. In August, ministry officials said the number of Yazidi IDPs who had returned to Sinjar this year was approximately 4,000 people in 800 households.

On September 7, the KRG Minister of Health, Saman Barzanji, said that health labs in the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah provinces had confirmed at least 117 cases of Cholera so far this summer. Barzanji attributed the latest outbreak of the endemic water-borne disease to ongoing problems with the processing and distribution of clean drinking water across the region. Last year, Iraq reported more than 800 Cholera cases nationwide, of which at least four were fatal. 

Sources cited in this section include: Rudaw, Mawazin, ISHM archive.

Oil Exports Hold Steady In August While Northern Sales Face More Delays; Iraq Begins Building Railroad Link To Iran

On September 1, Iraq’s Oil Ministry said that crude oil exports during August totaled more than 106.1 million barrels, for an average of 3.423 million barrels per day (bpd), which is about 20,000 bpd lower than exports in July. The August exports generated $8.84 billion in revenue, a jump of more than $500 million from the $8.29 billion achieved in July. Iraq sold its crude oil at an average price of approximately $83.35 per barrel, about $5.66 above the previous month’s average of $77.69 per barrel. The vast majority of the August exports were shipped from fields in southern and central Iraq through the ports of Basra, while small amounts averaging 14,900 bpd were exported to Jordan by trucks. These trucked exports to Jordan increased by 5,000 bpd this month based on a recent agreement between the two countries. The Qayyarah oil field in Ninewa, which resumed operations in May, contributed about 13,500 bpd to exports. Meanwhile, exports from the northern fields in Kirkuk, as well as fields under the control of the Kurdsitan regional government (KRG), remained suspended and are unlikely to resume before October, according to unnamed senior Turkish sources. The sources told Reuters this week that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has delayed a planned trip to Baghdad, when he’s expected to finalize an agreement to resume the exports, until October, because Iraq “has not taken the tangible steps” that Ankara expects from Baghdad. 

On September 2, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani laid the cornerstone for a new railroad project that will connect Iran with Basra through the Shalamcheh border crossing. The ceremony marking the launch of the project was also attended by Iranian vice president Mohammad Mukhbir. In April, Iraq’s Transportation Minister said that Iraq and Iran had signed an agreement for the transportation of passengers via the planned railroad connection. A Ministry statement said at the time that the agreement includes building a bridge over the Shatt al-Arab waterway within 18 months. 

On September 4, Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) said that Iraq was currently receiving less than 40% of its fair share of water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The shortage has a detrimental effect on all sectors, with agriculture and the marshes being the most affected, a spokesman for the MoWR said. Water levels reaching Iraq were particularly low in the Euphrates, which was flowing at between 137 and 150 cubic meters per second, the spokesman added. To compensate for the shortage, the MoWR had installed pumps to extract water from dead storage space at lake Tharthar, which enabled Iraq to provide an additional 70-80 cubic meters per second. Under agreements signed in the 1980s, Syria and Iraq were to share 500 cubic meters per second that flowed down the Euphrates from Turkey at a ratio of 42% and 58%, respectively. But in recent months, the river was flowing at rates below 200 cubic meters per second as it crossed the Turkish-Syrian border.

On September 5, Iraq’s Planning Ministry reported that inflation levels during the month of July 2023 decreased by 0.6% from the previous month. The Ministry also noted that inflation levels in July were up by 3.5% compared with the same month in 2022. According to the Ministry, the cost of housing went up by 2.2%, while the cost of most foods and beverages dropped between 0.4% and 1.6%. 

Sources cited in this section include: INA, ISHM archive, Rudaw, Ultra Iraq, al-Hurra, al-Sumaria, Mawazin.

IED Incidents and Resulting Casualties

Casualties Due To IEDs and ERWs from August 31, 2023 - September 7, 2023

Please note: some geographic locations represented are approximations and this map may not represent all incidents.

Derived from firsthand accounts and Iraq-based Arabic and Kurdish news sources, the Iraq Security and Humanitarian Monitor is a free publication of the Enabling Peace in Iraq Center.

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