Key Takeaways:

• POLITICS: Lawmakers Challenge Legality of Controversial Vote Passing Three Divisive Bills – On January 21, Iraq’s parliament approved amendments to three contentious laws during a controversial session. The amendments included changes to the Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959, the General Amnesty Law No. 27 of 2016, and a bill addressing the return of land confiscated by the Ba’ath Party regime. The Coordination Framework-backed changes to Law 188 empower state-selected clerics to set guidelines on family matters, including marriage, inheritance, and child custody. Sunni parties supported the Amnesty Law changes, which could expedite the release of thousands of prisoners. Meanwhile, Kurdish-backed legislation seeks to restore nearly 300,000 dunams of farmland in Kirkuk and other disputed areas to their original Kurdish and Turkmen owners. The vote on all three bills, conducted as a single package, drew criticism from lawmakers who accused Speaker Mashhadani of procedural violations, including claims of insufficient quorum. Some lawmakers have filed cases with the Federal Supreme Court to nullify the session, citing breaches of parliamentary bylaws. Even supporters of the Personal Status Law amendments, such as the Al-Nahj al-Watani bloc, questioned the session’s integrity, noting that key sections of the bills were not properly reviewed before the vote. Mashhadani has since met with the Federal Supreme Court president to address these disputes. In other developments, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander Mazloum Abdi visited Erbil on January 16 for talks with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani. The talks, said to be part of an initiative by Barzani, focused on unity among Syrian Kurds and peace with Turkey. more…
• SECURITY: Explosion at Weapons Cache Kills Four Iraqi Soldiers – On January 21, a weapons cache belonging to ISIS exploded during Iraqi security forces’ search operations in Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad. The explosion killed four soldiers and injured five. Military officials stated that inspection procedures deviated from protocol and lacked the supervision of military engineers. An investigation has been launched into the incident. In other news, violent tribal clashes erupted in Baghdad’s al-Zafaraniyah neighborhood on January 16, injuring one person. On January 17, unexploded remnants of war detonated in Basra and Diyala, killing a woman and wounding another civilian. On January 22, Iraqi army forces and tribal fighters killed three ISIS militants during an ambush in Anbar province. more…
• ECONOMY & CLIMATE: New Plant To Generate Power From Waste; Iraq Announces Major Oil Discovery; Oil Exports Lower in December – On January 20, Baghdad’s Mayoralty announced a deal with a foreign company to construct a power plant that will generate 100 megawatts of electricity using 3,000 metric tons of waste daily under high environmental standards. That same day, the Midland Oil Company reported a major oil discovery at the East Baghdad oil field, with a new well producing 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) and boosting reserves by an estimated two billion barrels of medium and light crude oil. On January 23, Iraq’s Oil Ministry reported that December oil exports averaged 3.258 million bpd, down 37,000 bpd from November. Most exports came from southern and central fields via Basra, as shipments through Turkey from Kirkuk and the Kurdistan region remained suspended. Separately, Iraq’s Water Resources Minister noted improved Euphrates water levels due to increased releases from Syria, marking a reversal of longstanding challenges. more…

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POLITICS: Lawmakers Challenge Legality of Controversial Vote Passing Three Divisive Bills

On January 16, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, visited Erbil for a landmark meeting with Masoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The talks, Abdi’s first in Erbil with Iraqi Kurdish leaders, focused on the post-Assad situation in Syria and emphasized unity among Syrian Kurdish parties to secure Kurdish rights in Syria, a report by Kurdistan24 said. Abdi and Barzani stressed that Syrian Kurds must be able to decide their future peacefully and without interference. Abdi’s visit came days after Barzani had dispatched an envoy to northeast Syria to extend an invitation to Abdi to visit Erbil as part of an initiative to promote unity among Syrian Kurds and peace between the SDF and Turkey. Relations between the SDF and KDP have been tense for years due to the former’s perceived ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the KDP often accused of destabilizing the Kurdistan region of Iraq.  

On January 19, Iraq’s parliament voted to approve the new Law of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS). The website of the Iraqi parliament has not yet published the text of the new law, which aims to regulate the organization and functions of the country’s leading intelligence arm.

On January 20, Iraq’s parliament sent a formal letter to Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani asking the prime minister to enforce retirement age laws and terminate the services of senior government officials who have exceeded the age of 60. The letter, signed by speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, mentions that several governors and heads of independent commissions have exceeded the legal retirement age. It warns that allowing them to remain in office constitutes a “serious violation” in running those entities and a “flagrant breach” of constitutional principles concerning equal opportunity, urging Sudani to take action to remedy the situation. The enforcement of the retirement age would affect a number of senior officials, including, notably, the chairman of the Popular Mobilization Commission, Falih al-Fayyadh.   

On January 21, Iraq’s parliament voted to approve the controversial proposed amendments to the country’s Personal Status Law no.188 of 1959. The legislature also voted to approve two other bills, one of which deals with amendments to the General Amnesty Law no. 27 of 2016, while the other deals with the return of properties confiscated by the Ba’ath Party regime. The Law 188 amendments, backed by the Coordination Framework, allow state selected clerics to write new guidelines for deciding family matters, including marriage, inheritance, and child custody. Since their introduction in August, the amendments raised strong opposition from secular parties and rights groups who fear they could revive sectarian divisions, undermine child and women rights, and legalize child marriage. The Amnesty Law amendments, backed mostly by Sunni parties, are expected to expedite the release of thousands from prison. Meanwhile, the third law, backed by Kurdish parties, is expected to return nearly 300,000 dunams of farmland in Kirkuk and other disputed territories that was appropriated by the Ba’ath regime to its former Kurdish and Turkmen owners. The vote on the three bills, which key Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish blocs had made a deal to pass in one package, had faced multiple delays in recent months amid disagreements among the bills and objections from lawmakers. The vote on Tuesday was not without problems. Footage from the aftermath of the vote showed a chaotic scene and a group of lawmakers collecting signatures in support of a motion to sack speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. The opposing lawmakers accuse Mashhadani of violating parliamentary procedures by putting three bills to a single vote instead of allowing lawmakers to vote on each bill separately. They also accused the speaker of counting votes even as “half of the present representatives refused to vote, which broke quorum.” By the following day, a group of independent lawmakers presented their case to the Federal Supreme Court demanding the nullification of Tuesday’s vote citing several alleged violations to the legislature’s bylaws. On Thursday, a second formal complaint was filed by the Ishraqat Kanon bloc, asking the Federal Supreme Court to dismiss the Tuesday vote as illegitimate. Questions about the integrity of Tuesday’s session came even from parties supportive of the Personal Status Law amendments. In a statement, the al-Nahj al-Watani bloc (representing the Islamic Fadheela Party) pointed to several aspects of the Tuesday session that it said were illegal. Specifically, it mentioned that important parts of the Amnesty Law amendments (including changes to an article defining what constitutes an act of terror) were not read or otherwise shared with parliament before the vote. The bloc joined other objecting lawmakers in arguing that quorum was not established when the vote proceeded. The vociferous objections prompted Mashhadani to meet with judge Jasim al-Omeiri, the president of the Federal Supreme Court, on Thursday to discuss “the legal aspects concerning the management of some Council of Representatives sessions, and the related objections by some representatives,” Mashhadani’s office said without offering further details.

On January 22, the pro tempore speaker of the Kurdistan regional parliament said he was stepping down after the legislature once again failed to meet due to lack of quorum. News reports indicate that representatives of the ruling PUK and KDP parties have remained absent from meetings as their leaders negotiate the shape of the next KRG cabinet. Only 26 of the parliament’s 100 members were present on Wednesday, reports indicate. Following the October 20 election, the new parliament of the Kurdistan region convened its first session in Erbil on December 2. The meeting was adjourned after the new lawmakers were sworn in as quorum could not be reached again to enable the election of a speaker and deputy speaker. Since then, lawmaker Mohammed Soleiman of the New Generation party, as the oldest member of the legislature, has served as speaker pro tempore. 

Sources cited in this section include: Kurdistan24, al-Hurra, Middle East Eye, INA, NRT, Iraqi parliament, Rudaw, ISHM archive, HRW, Shafaq, al-Sumaria, PUKMedia.

SECURITY: Explosion at Weapons Cache Kills Four Iraqi Soldiers

On January 16, violent tribal clashes erupted in al-Zafaraniyah neighborhood of east Baghdad. Footage circulating online appeared to show heavy automatic gunfire being exchanged between those involved in the clashes. Security forces responded to the situation, arresting 20 suspects and confiscating nine weapons. At least one child was struck by a bullet as a result of the fighting.

On January 17, security sources in Basra province said that an explosive remnant of war detonated in a residential area in central Basra killing a woman and wounding her husband. The couple were processing scrap metal for salvage when the explosion took place, the sources added. Meanwhile, in Diyala province, another explosive remnant of war detonated outside the town of Qara-Tappa, north east of Baquba. The explosion killed two pack animals but there were no human casualties, security sources said.  

On January 21, a weapons cache that belonged to ISIS exploded while Iraqi troops were conducting search operations in the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad, Iraqi security officials said. The explosion killed four members of the Iraqi security forces and injured five. The Security Media Cell said the process of inspecting the cache was conducted “outside of standard procedures” and without the presence of military engineers, adding that an investigation has been ordered to determine the circumstances of the deadly incident. 

On January 22, the Security Media Cell reported that a joint force of the army’s 5th division and tribal fighters killed three ISIS militants during an ambush operation in the desert of Anbar province. One of the slain militants was a senior ISIS commander and work is underway to confirm his identity, the report added. 

Sources cited in this section include: Shafaq, Baghdad Today, al-Sumaria, INA.

ECONOMY & CLIMATE: New Plant To Generate Power From Waste; Iraq Announces Major Oil Discovery; Oil Exports Lower in December

On January 16, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) issued new regulations aimed at preventing the use of real estate transactions in money laundering operations. In a letter addressed to the Real Estate Registration Department, the CBI said that real estate transactions valued at IQD 100 million or more must be conducted through licensed banks to prevent money laundering. The new regulation lowers the ceiling from the previous threshold of IQD 500 million.

On January 19, Iraq’s Water Resources Minister, Awn Thyab, said that water levels in the Euphrates were better than those in the Tigris for the first time in years, crediting a significant boost in water volumes released by Syria into Iraq. According to Thyab, the Euphrates was flowing from Syria to Iraq at a rate of 450 cubic meters per second, up almost 90% from 240 cubic meters per second in September (compared to less than 400 cubic meters per second for the Tigris).  

On January 20, the Mayoralty of Baghdad announced that a contract has been signed “with a specialized foreign company” to build a power plant that will produce 100 megawatts of electricity relying on municipal waste as fuel. The facility will cover an area of 1,000 dunams in al-Nahrawan, southeast of Baghdad, and process up to 3,000 metric tons of waste each day to produce electricity under high environmental standards, the statement said. There were no available details about the cost, specific location, or timeline for executing the project.

On January 20, Iraq’s Midland Oil Company reported that it made a significant oil discovery at the East Baghdad oil field. According to a statement by the company, recent testing operations on new wells drilled on the field had promising results with oil flowing at a rate of 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) from one well. The company’s director general, Mohammed Hassan, said the new discovery and test results could boost the country’s oil reserves by more than two billion barrels of medium and light crude oil. The East Baghdad field is operated by Chinese oil company ZhenHua.

On January 22, Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani issued orders to remove the current head of the General Customs Commission, Hassan Humoud Hassani, from office. The order does not explain the reasons for Hassani’s dismissal, nor does it name his replacement. 

On January 23, Iraq’s Oil Ministry said that crude oil exports during December totaled slightly more than 101 million barrels, for an average of 3.258 million barrels per day (bpd), which is about 37,000 bpd below exports in November. In its statement the Ministry of Oil neglected to mention the total revenue generated by the December exports and the average price at which the oil was sold. Nearly all of the oil produced came from fields in southern and central Iraq and was exported through the ports of Basra, while small amounts averaging approximately 10,000 bpd were exported by trucks to Jordan. Exports from the northern fields in Kirkuk, as well as fields under the control of the Kurdistan regional government, remained suspended. 

Sources cited in this section include: Shafaq, Baghdad Today, al-Sumaria, INA, Iraq’s Oil Ministry, Iraq Business News.

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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