Key Takeaways:
- POLITICS: Wiretapping Scandal Rocks Iraqi Politics; Integrity Commission Claims Senior Judges Obstructed Major Corruption Investigation; Iran’s Pezeshkian Visits Iraq – On August 30, new details emerged about an alleged wiretapping and extortion scandal centered around the office of PM Sudani. Iraqi sources said investigations revealed that the network, operating for months, targeted prominent politicians including Nouri al-Maliki, Hadi al-Amiri, Faeq Zaidan, Mohammed al-Halbousi, Falih al-Fayyadh, Haider al-Abadi, and Mohsin al-Mandalawi, and many more. The network also allegedly fabricated fake news and impersonated politicians and businessmen. The scandal has embarrassed the Iraqi government, particularly the ruling Coordination Framework alliance, whose leaders held meetings aimed at containing the fallout. In a televised speech, Sudani denied the allegations about the eavesdropping operation, calling them fabrications meant to distract the public and smear the government. Seven suspects, including Mohammed Johi, an administrative aide Sudani thought to be the cell leader, were reportedly arrested. Remarkably, the cell is also said to include Ahmed al-Sudani, the acting head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS). On September 4, the head of Iraq’s Integrity Commission, Haider Hanoun, accused the judiciary of obstructing investigations into the theft of $2.5 billion from government accounts in a major fraud scheme often referred to as “heist of the century.” Among other things, Hanoun specifically blamed Judge Dhiya Jafar of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Court for the deliberate disappearance of case documents and evidence. In related news, the court in charge of this case ordered the arrest of six individuals who posted bail on behalf of the main suspect, Nour Zuheir, after the later missed another court date. On September 11, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian began a visit to Baghdad, followed by Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, for meetings with Iraqi leaders. During the visit, the two countries signed 14 agreements dealing with trade chambers, labor force development, vocational training, social security, postal services, agriculture and natural resources, free trade zones, religious tourism, telecommunications, media cooperation, education, cultural exchanges and antiquities, and sports. In other developments, on September 6, Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali told the Turkish envoy to Baghdad that he rejects the new security agreement that Iraq and Turkey signed in August, insisting that Turkish troops must completely withdraw from Iraq. more…
- SECURITY: U.S. Troops Injured In Major Anti-ISIS Operation; Iraq To Get 14 Airbus Helicopters; Rockets Target U.S Diplomatic Facility In Baghdad – On August 29-30, a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation involving hundreds of troops, multiple airstrikes, and air assault maneuvers killed 16 ISIS militants at multiple locations in the desert of Anbar province, including a number of “first line leaders,” according to Iraqi officials. Seven U.S. military personnel were injured in the clashes with the militants, who were armed with “numerous weapons, grenades, and explosive ‘suicide’ belts,” according to the U.S. Central Command. There were no reports of casualties among civilians or the Iraqi troops who participated in the operation. On September 5, Iraq signed a deal with Airbus Helicopters to purchase 14 of the company’s H225M Caracal multipurpose military transport helicopters. Deliveries are expected to commence in early 2025 and will take several months to complete. It is unclear how much Iraq has agreed to pay for the 14 aircraft. On September 10, two rockets struck near a U.S diplomatic facility near Baghdad airport. The 11pm local time attack on the Baghdad Diplomatic Services Compound did not result in casualties. In other developments, between August 30 – September 10, the explosions of five IEDs and remnants of war in Najaf, Anbar, Ninewa, Kirkuk, and Baghdad, killed at least nine Iraqis (including three children) and wounded at least six others. Between September 4 – 10, two Turkish drone strikes in Sulaymaniyah and Makhmour killed four people and injured at least two others. more…
- HUMANITARIAN & HUMAN RIGHTS: New Report Details ISIS War Crimes, Chemical Weapons Use In Salah Ad-Din; Iraq Extradites Iranian Dissident To Iran – On September 2, the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes committed by ISIS (UNITAD) said it delivered to Iraq’s judicial authority an analytical report on ISIS atrocities against the residents of four towns in Salah ad-Din province. The report found “reasonable grounds to believe” that ISIS committed “war crimes and crimes against humanity” during the period from June 2014 to March 2015. The report says the atrocities committed by ISIS included “imprisonment, torture…murder and forcible transfer,” among other things, as well as “the use of poisonous weapons and/or the use of asphyxiating weapons.” On September 6, authorities in Sulaymaniyah arrested then extradited Iranian opposition activist Behzad Khasrawi back to Iran, according to Khasrawi’s Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iran (PDKI). The Asayish security agency claimed that Khasrawi was in the Kurdistan region illegally and had no political activities. The Asayish further claimed that Khasrawi himself asked to be sent back to Iran after he was arrested for violating residency rules. Meanwhile, the PDKI insists that Khasrawi was in Sulaymaniyah legally and was a refugee registered with the UNHCR. The extradition goes against Iraq’s declared policy in dealing with Iranian dissidents, whose camps along the Iranian border have been evacuated under a border security agreement that Baghdad and Tehran signed in March of 2023. Iraqi officials have repeatedly said that members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups would be dealt with as “refugees according to the guidelines of the UNHCR.” In other developments, on September 5, court documents showed that a criminal court in Baghdad had sentenced Muhannad Naem, a senior adviser to former PM Mustafa al-Kadhmi to seven years in prison. The in-absentia sentence is reportedly related to a case filed against Naem by Coordination Framework lawmaker Falih al-Khazali, in which Naem was accused (and ultimately found guilty) of writing an article about federalism that was deemed “insulting” to certain communities in central and southern Iraq. more…
- ECONOMY & CLIMATE: Kurdistan’s Oil Production Rises As Baghdad Plans Output Cuts In Line With OPEC+ Targets – On August 30, information compiled by S&P Global showed that oil production in the Kurdistan region rose to about 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), marking significant recovery from the months that followed the suspension of exports via Turkey in March 2023. In another sign of recovery, Norwegian oil company DNO, which operates Duhok’s Tawke field, said it will resume drilling operations for the first time in more than 18 months. Meanwhile, on September 5, Iraq’s Oil Ministry said that it began reducing its oil exports to an average of 3.3 million bpd (compared to 3.485 million bpd in July) starting August 27 in order to comply with OPEC+ supply cut agreements. The ministry will also reduce domestic consumption, typically for refineries, for several months to compensate for exceeding output quotas in previous months. According to the S&P Global report, the Oil Ministry has asked the KRG to drastically cut its production to just 46,000 bpd to help Baghdad achieve its output reduction targets. In other developments, on August 31, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) said it signed a contract with consulting company Oliver Wyman to conduct a comprehensive review of more than twenty Iraqi banks that have been banned from dealing in U.S. dollars and devise practical solutions to reintegrate them into the Iraqi and international banking sectors. On September 7, Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity launched projects to add four combined cycle units to three gas-fired power plants in Baghdad, Diyala, and Anbar provinces. more…
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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.
POLITICS: Wiretapping Scandal Rocks Iraqi Politics; Integrity Commission Claims Senior Judges Obstructed Major Corruption Investigation; Iran’s Pezeshkian Visits Iraq
On August 30, news reports revealed new alleged details about a wiretapping and extortion scandal uncovered in late August in the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani. According to unnamed Iraqi sources, investigations revealed that the network, operating since late 2023, targeted prominent politicians, including senior members of the Coordination Framework, with the aim of political extortion. The list of targeted politicians is said to include Nouri al-Maliki, Hadi al-Amiri, Mohammed al-Halbousi, Falih al-Fayyadh, Haider al-Abadi, and Mohsin al-Mandalawi. The network also allegedly fabricated fake news and impersonated politicians and businessmen. Faeq Zidan, head of the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council, was also a target in the eavesdropping campaign, but Zidan denied this. The scandal has embarrassed the Iraqi government, particularly the ruling Coordination Framework alliance, whose leaders held meetings aimed at containing the scandal. In a televised speech on September 8, Sudani denied the allegations about the eavesdropping scandal, calling them fabrications meant to distract the public and smear the government. Sudani also said that his government will enforce the law against any officials who abuse their office for extortion. Seven suspects, including Mohammed Johi, an administrative aide to the prime minister thought to be the cell leader, were reportedly arrested. Remarkably, the cell is also said to include Ahmed al-Sudani, the acting head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS). Reports indicate that there have been unsuccessful attempts to release the suspects.
On September 3, the government of Switzerland reopened its embassy in Baghdad, which had been closed since the 1991 Gulf War. The Swiss mission said that it will have a skeleton staff of three diplomats, adding that its priorities will be to enhance cooperation on security, economic issues, and migration.
On September 4, the head of Iraq’s Integrity Commission, Haider Hanoun, accused the judiciary of undermining the Commission and obstructing its investigations into the theft of $2.5 billion from government accounts in a major fraud scheme that is often referred to as the “heist of the century.” Hanoun specifically blamed Judge Dhiya Jafar of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Court for the deliberate disappearance of case documents and evidence. Hanoun also said the Anti-Corruption Court, which is in charge of the case acted against the law by lumping together the 114 fraudulent checks cashed by the main suspect, Nour Zuheir, into a single charge, as opposed to 114 separate charges. In a press conference, an agitated Hanoun also attempted to defend his reputation against allegations that he abused his office to enrich himself. Hanoun also spoke about other alleged grand corruption schemes being protected by powerful figures, including a major railway contract he claimed could cost Iraq a whopping $18 billion. In related news, the court in charge of Nour Zuheir’s case ordered the arrest of six individuals who posted bail on behalf of Zuheir and another suspect in the case ( also referred to as the guarantors). The development comes after Zuheir once again failed to appear before the court. The court set October 21 as the new date for the session. The identities of the six guarantors, who are reportedly in custody, have not been made public. Two weeks ago, Hanoun said the Commission will have to seek international cooperation through an Interpol red notice if Zhuheir’s guarantors fail to make him appear in court. That announcement comes after Zuheir fled to Beirut and did not show up to two court sessions on August 14 and 27.
On September 6, Reuters, citing Iraqi and U.S. officials, reported that negotiators in security talks between Washington and Baghdad have forged a preliminary agreement on plans for the drawdown and ultimate withdrawal of the U.S.-led Global Coalition forces from Iraq. Under the tentative agreement, which still needs to be approved by both governments, hundreds of troops would leave by September 2025 by pulling all coalition forces from Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province and greatly cutting their numbers in the Iraqi capital. Remaining forces, whose presence would be limited to Erbil in the Kurdistan region, would eventually depart by the end of 2026, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Sources told Reuters the deal could be made public before the end of September.
On September 6, Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali told the Turkish envoy to Baghdad that he rejects the new security agreement that Iraq and Turkey signed in August during meetings between Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and his Turkish counterpart in Ankara. In a meeting with the outgoing Turkish ambassador to Iraq, Ali Riza Guney and his replacement, Anil Bora Yonan, Khazali insisted that Turkish troops must completely withdraw from Iraq and that all territory must be under the control of Iraqi forces, which are capable of securing the border, according to Khazali. The leaked text of the agreement outlines the terms and conditions under which the two sides are to set up a joint security coordination center that will be based in the Iraqi capital. Notably, the agreement also provides for the transformation of a military base that Turkey had occupied in the northern town of Bashiqa since 2015 into a joint security training center. The terms, which put the Iraqi side in charge of providing security for the facility, appear to be meant to defuse tensions surrounding the presence of the Turkish base, which had raised Iraqi demands for withdrawal and on many occasions attracted attacks by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other armed groups opposed to Turkish military presence in Iraq. At the time, the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that the new security agreement does not include putting an end to Turkish military presence on Iraqi soil.
On September 6, a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said that security forces have shut down several offices and institutions belonging to senior PUK leader Mulla Bakhtiar as the party plans to fire Baktyar from its ranks. According to Ghiyath Sorchi, the decision to get rid of Bakhtiar came after the latter turned on the party and started using these offices and institutions, particularly a research center called Chawder (The Monitor) to attack the PUK.
On September 9, the Egyptian Minister of Transportation and Industry, accompanied by representatives of 14 major Egyptian construction companies, visited Baghdad for talks with Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani. The minister, Kamil al-Wazir, described the visit as a continuation of last month’s talks between Sudani and President Sisi and an affirmation of Egypt’s interest in expanding cooperation with Iraq in the transportation infrastructure sector.
On September 11, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Baghdad on his first international trip and was met at Baghdad airport by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani. Pezeshkian and Sudani later presided over bilateral talks that focused on the border security agreement between Iraq and Iran, the war in Gaza, energy and oil refining, trade, religious tourism, and a planned railroad connection between Basra and Shalamcheh. During Pezeshkain’s visit, the two countries signed 14 bilateral agreements dealing with trade chambers, labor force development, vocational training, social security, postal services, agriculture and natural resources, free trade zones, religious tourism, telecommunications, media cooperation, education, cultural exchanges and antiquities, and sports. During his visit, Pezeshkian also had meetings with President Abdul-Latif Rashid, Judge Faeq Zaidan, and several senior figures from the Coordination Framework. After Baghdad, Pezeshkian traveled to Erbil, where he met with KDP leaders Masoud, Masrour, and Nechirvan Barzani. Later, the Iranian president made a stop in Sulaymaniyah, where he met with PUK leader Bafel Talabani.
Sources cited in this section include: Asharq al-Awsat, ISHM archive, Ultra Iraq, TWI, Baghdad Today, al-Sumaria, Shafaq, Rudaw, Reuters, INA, Iraqi PM’s office, al-Hurra, Iraq Observer, Kurdistan24, PUKMedia.
SECURITY: U.S. Troops Injured In Major Anti-ISIS Operation; Iraq To Get 14 Airbus Helicopters; Rockets Target U.S Diplomatic Facility In Baghdad
On August 30, Iraq’s National Intelligence Service (INIS) said that a complex joint U.S.-Iraqi operation involving multiple airstrikes and air assault troops killed at least 14 ISIS militants at multiple locations in the desert of Anbar province. Subsequent statements upgraded ISIS losses to at least 16 killed, including a number of “first line leaders,” according to Iraqi officials. Seven U.S. military personnel were injured in the clashes with the militants, who were armed with “numerous weapons, grenades, and explosive ‘suicide’ belts,” according to the U.S. Central Command. There were no reports of casualties among civilians or the Iraqi troops who participated in the operation., which involved more than 200 Iraqi and U.S. troops over two days.
On August 30, an explosive remnant of war (ERW) detonated during residential construction works in the Maysan neighborhood of the city of Najaf, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. The explosion wounded two individuals, the ministry statement added.
On August 31, an improvised explosive device (IED) struck a truck used by farmers to transport produce on the road between lake Tharthar and the town of Haditha in Anbar province, Iraqi police sources said. The explosion killed the two occupants of the vehicle, the police added.
On September 1, security sources in Ninewa province said that a legacy IED detonated inside an abandoned house in the village of Swayti within the Baaj district, west of Mosul. The explosion killed three children from a family of animal herders that attempted to settle into the building, which had been vacant for several years. Two other members of the same family were also injured, the police sources added.
On September 4, a Turkish military drone struck a civilian vehicle in the Chwarta district of Sulaymaniyah province, killing its three occupants, the mayor of Chwarta said. Local sources later identified the victims as Mudhafar Hussein Khidir, allegedly a local gun salesman, and his two sons, aged 18 and 14.
On September 4, Iraq’s Defense Ministry said that two senior intelligence officers from the army’s 8th mechanized infantry division were killed in an IED explosion while the officers were conducting a mission in al-Gharra Mountains in Kirkuk province. The two victims were identified as lieutenant colonels Laith Muayad Yasin and Ahmed Mohammed Amin.
On September 5, Iraq signed a deal with Airbus Helicopters to purchase 14 of the company’s H225M Caracal multipurpose military transport helicopters. Deliveries are expected to commence in early 2025 and will take several months to complete, company officials told reporters. The 11-ton helicopters can transport up to 29 fully equipped troops and conduct search and rescue missions. It is unclear how much Iraq has agreed to pay for the 14 aircraft.
On September 6, Iraqi F-16 jets conducted an airstrike against a cell of three ISIS militants at a hideout in the Himrin Mountains within the Diyala sector, Iraq’s Joint Operations Command (JOC) said. The airstrike killed all three militants and destroyed weapons and equipment that were stored in the hideout, JOC added.
On September 7, security sources in Anbar said that a senior Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) official in the province survived an assassination attempt when unidentified gunmen opened fire on this vehicle while passing through the city of Fallujah. The attack wounded the official, who’s in charge of the doctrinal guidance directorate in the Anbar PMF, as well as his driver, while killing a third passenger.
On September 9, security sources reported that an explosion rocked a weapons depot belonging to the Kataib Hezbollah militia in the town of al-Suwaira in Wasit province. The sources attributed the explosion to a brush fire that erupted near poorly stored ammunition containers. Footage that appears to be taken by security personnel near the incident appears to show a thick plume of black smoke rising from the facility. Security officials said rumors suggesting the explosion was caused by an airstrike were untrue.
On September 10, security officials in Baghdad said that two men were killed (a soldier and a delivery driver) and two were injured (a civilian and a member of the security forces) when an IED detonated at a checkpoint in al-Shula district of northwest Baghdad. Initial investigations indicate that the perpetrator and targeted individual knew each other and had a personal dispute. Furthermore, security officials said the perpetrator disguised the IED in a box as a present and hired a delivery driver to take it to the targeted individual who was told to wait by the security checkpoint.
On September 10, local sources in the Makhmour district said that a Turkish military drone struck a building in a camp housing Turkish Kurdish refugees. The airstrike killed one person and injured two others, Kurdish security officials said, without providing details about the victims’ identities. The Turkish military has targeted the camp in the past on allegations that it hosts militants from the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
On September 10, two rockets struck near a U.S diplomatic facility located near Baghdad airport, officials from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad said. The 11pm local time attack on the Baghdad Diplomatic Services Compound did not result in casualties, the U.S. officials added. Wednesday’s attack is the first to target Washington’s diplomatic mission in the Iraqi capital since December 2023, when several mortar rounds struck around the U.S. embassy compound in central Baghdad.
On September 11, security sources in Kirkuk said that a joint security force clashed with a “dangerous terrorist cell” in the Sikanyan neighborhood of Kirkuk. During the clashes, one of the militants “committed suicide”, ostensibly by detonating an explosive vest, while another militant was arrested by security forces. Two members of the Iraqi security forces were injured during the operation.
Sources cited in this section include: al-Sumaria, AP, Shafaq, Dijlah, Rudaw, NINA, INA, al-Hurra, Ultra Iraq, Baghdad Today, Reuters, ISHM archive.
HUMANITARIAN & HUMAN RIGHTS: New Report Details ISIS War Crimes, Chemical Weapons Use In Salah Ad-Din; Iraq Extradites Iranian Dissident To Iran
On August 30, Iraq’s Ministry for Migration and the Displaced said that 379 internally displaced persons (IDPs) comprising 67 households returned this week to their home districts in Ninewa and Salah ad-Din provinces from the Baharka IDP camp in Erbil province. A ministry spokesman noted that nearly 20,000 displaced families continue to live in the Kurdistan region’s IDP camps, which the Iraqi government initially planned to shut down by the end of July.
On September 2, the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes committed by ISIS (UNITAD) said it delivered to Iraq’s judicial authority an analytical report on ISIS atrocities against the residents of four towns in Salah ad-Din province. The report found “reasonable grounds to believe” that ISIS committed “war crimes and crimes against humanity” during the period between June 2014 and March 2015 in the predominantly Sunni cities and towns of Tikrit, al‑Dour, al‑Alam and al‑Dhuluiya. The report says the atrocities committed by ISIS in the communities in Tikrit, al‑Alam and al‑Dour included “imprisonment, torture…murder and forcible transfer,” among other things, as well as “the use of poisonous weapons and/or the use of asphyxiating weapons” in the case of al-Dhuluiya. UNITAD’s mission is set to expire on September 17, 2024 in accordance with Security Council resolution 2697, which was adopted in On September 15, 2023.
On September 5, court documents circulating in news reports showed that a criminal court in Baghdad had sentenced Muhannad Naem, a senior adviser to former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhmi, to seven years in prison. The in absentia sentence was reportedly related to a case filed against Naem by Coordination Framework lawmaker Falih al-Khazali. In the case, Naem was accused (and ultimately found guilty) of writing an article about federalism in Iraq that was deemed insulting to communities in central and southern Iraq.
On September 6, security authorities in Sulaymaniyah arrested then extradited Iranian opposition activist Behzad Khasrawi back to Iran, according to Khasrawi’s Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iran (PDKI). The Sulaymaniyah-based Asayish security agency claimed in a statement that Khasrawi was present illegally in the Kurdistan region and had no political activities. The Asayish further claimed that Khasrawi himself asked to be sent back to Iran after he was arrested for violating residency rules. But the PDKI insists that Khasrawi has been in Sulaymaniyah legally for over 10 years, and was a refugee registered with the UNHCR. The arrest and extradition go against the declared policy of the Iraqi government in dealing with Iranian dissidents in Iraqi territory, whose camps along the Iranian border have been evacuated by Iraqi authorities under a border security agreement that Baghdad and Tehran had signed in March of 2023. Iraqi officials have on multiple occasions said that members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups would be dealt with as “refugees according to the guidelines of the UNHCR.”
Sources cited in this section include: Rudaw, Reliefweb, ISHM archive, UN, Shafaq, al-Hurra.
ECONOMY & CLIMATE: Kurdistan’s Oil Production Rises As Baghdad Plans Output Cuts In Line With OPEC+ Targets
On August 30, information compiled by S&P Global showed that oil production levels in the Kurdistan region currently average about 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) marking significant recovery from the months that followed the suspension of exports via Turkey in March 2023. The volumes, however, remain well below the 400,000 bpd averaged prior to the closure of the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, which was triggered by Baghdad winning an arbitration case against Ankara for allowing Kurdish exports without Baghdad’s approval. With pipeline exports halted, the oil is being sold domestically to local refineries for processing. Around 173,000 bpd of the 250,000 bpd output is produced by foreign oil companies (compared to just 2,000 bpd in the summer of 2023), while the remainder is produced by the local KAR Group, according to the report. In another sign of recovery, Norwegian oil company DNO, which operates the Tawke field in Duhok, said it will resume drilling operations for the first time in more than 18 months.
On August 31, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) said that its delegation to New York, led by Governor Ali al-Allaq, has signed a contract with consulting company Oliver Wyman to conduct a comprehensive review of more than twenty Iraqi banks that have been banned from dealing in U.S. dollars. The company will devise practical solutions to reintegrate these banks into the Iraqi and international banking sectors, as well as improving banking procedures to meet international standards, the CBI statement added. This initiative also aims to facilitate the establishment of direct banking relationships between Iraqi and international banks, the statement added.
On September 4, the Basra Gas Company said it opened a new loading berth at the Khor al-Zubeir port to expand its capacity to export liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and gas condensates. The new berth has four loading arms with a combined capacity to load 9,600 tons per hour of propane, butane, and gas condensates, according to the company’s deputy director, Marfa al-Asadi. The increased capacity will reduce average loading time for tankers from five days to just two days, al-Asadi explained.
On September 5, Iraq’s Oil Ministry said that it began reducing its oil exports to an average of 3.3 million barrels per day (bpd) starting August 27 in order to comply with OPEC+ supply cut agreements. The ministry will also reduce domestic consumption, typically for refineries, for several months to compensate for exceeding the country’s output quotas in previous months, the statement added, without specifying the volumes involved. According to reporting by S&P Global, the Oil Ministry has asked the KRG to drastically cut its production from 250,000 bpd to just 46,000 bpd to help Baghdad achieve its output reduction targets. Iraq’s oil exports averaged 3.485 million bpd in July.
On September 7, Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity launched three power generation projects in Baghdad, Diyala, and Anbar provinces. The projects include adding four combined cycle units to three gas-fired power plants in the three provinces. Two combined cycle units to be added at the South Baghdad and Akkaz power plants will each produce 125 megawatts, while two other units, to be installed at Diyala’s Mansouriyah power plant will have a capacity of 362 megawatts, a government statement said.
On September 10, the Iraqi government issued instructions to the Finance Ministry to continue funding the salaries of KRG civil servants that have been withheld since February due to incomplete biometric personnel records (missing civil service numbers). Meanwhile, the KRG will be given until the end of 2024 to create new civil service numbers and provide those to the federal Planning Ministry to ensure continued funding, a government statement said.
Sources cited in this section include: S&P Global, Shafaq, ISHM archive, INA, Iraq’s Oil Ministry, Iraqi PM’s office, PUKMedia.
IED Incidents and Resulting Casualties
Casualties Due To IEDs and ERWs from August 29, 2024 - September 12, 2024
| Date | Location | Deaths | Injuries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8/30/24 | Najaf city | 0 | 2 |
| 8/31/24 | Near Haditha, Anbar province | 2 | 0 |
| 9/1/24 | Baaj district, Ninewa province | 3 | 2 |
| 9/4/24 | Al-Gharra Mountains, Kirkuk province | 2 | 0 |
| 9/10/24 | Al-Shula, Baghdad | 2 | 2 |
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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