Key Takeaways:
- POLITICS: Popular Militia Commander Renews Call To Sack Muthanna’s Governor; KRG Legislative Elections Set For October 20 – On June 24, Hameed al-Yasiri, a prominent commander of a Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) unit in the Muthanna province, called on the provincial council to withdraw confidence from the governor, Mohannad al-Itabi, “immediately” and appoint “an independent and honest” replacement. Two weeks ago, Yasiri, who is affiliated with the shrines of Najaf and Karbala and known for criticizing Iran-backed militias, had urged PM Sudani to appoint a military governor and shut down the “economic offices” that he said powerful parties use to extort money from local businesses. At the time, Yasiri threatened to mobilize protests in the province but postponed them after Sudani instructed the Integrity Commission to investigate the corruption allegations. On June 26, KRG President Nechirvan Barzani set October 20, 2024 as the new date for holding the much-delayed legislative elections in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Officials from Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), which will be in charge of organizing the election, said the date was “very suitable,” and will give IHEC enough time to complete its preparations. This week, IHEC extended the deadline for coalitions, parties, and individual candidates to register to compete in the elections by ten days from June 24 to July 4. In other developments, on June 23, the Board of Trustees of the Iraqi Media Network (IMN) voted to elect Thaer Hitayhit al-Ghanimi as its chairman. Ghanimi is thought to have close ties to several Iran-backed militias. On June 25, Khamis al-Khanjar, leader of the Siyada party, said the political deadlock that prevented the election of a new speaker of parliament for more than six months will be resolved soon. The remarks came after political sources said that Khanjar reached out to former speaker Halbousi with a new initiative to mend fences between their rival parties and resolve the impasse over the speaker position. more…
- SECURITY: Militia Leaders Threaten Attacks On U.S. Interests If Israel Attacks Lebanese Hezbollah – On June 24, the leader of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, Qais al-Khazali, threatened to attack U.S. interests in Iraq and across the region if Israel were to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon. On the following day, the leader of another Iran-backed Iraqi militia, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, said that Iraqi “resistance” factions will participate in any war that breaks out between Hezbollah and Israel. The group’s leader, Abu Ala’ al-Walaie said the “geographic barriers” that had “forced the Islamic Resistance in Iraq” to limit its involvement in hostilities against Israel to long-range attacks “will disappear” in case Israel decided to “wage war on Lebanon.” In related developments, on June 22, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” a front group for Iran-backed Iraqi militias, claimed in a statement that it conducted two attacks against five ships at or near the Israeli port of Haifa in cooperation with the Houthi militants of Yemen. On June 24, authorities in Wasit province said they discovered a crashed drone of unknown origin. The aircraft was not carrying any weapons or explosives. Analysis of an image of the crashed drone suggests that it was a Houthi-made Samad-2 drone. more…
- HUMANITARIAN: Access Restrictions Complicate Government Plan To Close Down IDP Camps – Between June 24 – 27, Iraq’s Ministry for Migration and the Displaced said that two groups totaling 966 internally displaced persons (IDPs) had returned to their home district of Sinjar from out-of-camp settlements in the Khanki and Sharya regions of Duhok province. Meanwhile, Migration Minister Evan Jabro said this week that achieving the government’s goal of closing down all remaining IDP camps in the Kurdistan region by the established July 31 deadline will be “challenging” due to access restrictions. Jabro claimed that while authorities in Sulaymaniyah were cooperating with ministry staff, authorities in Duhok and Erbil have been preventing the ministry staff from accessing IDP camps under their jurisdiction. In other developments, on June 24, the Iraqi government said it will increase the amount of subsidized diesel fuel allocated to privately-owned power generators during July and August to help them meet rising demand during the summer months. Power and water shortages have been reported in various parts of Iraq this week and have sparked protests in at least three southern provinces: Dhi-Qar, Babylon and Maysan. more…
- ECONOMY & CLIMATE: Sudani Appoints New Civil Aviation Chief; Oil Exports Down 53,000 BPD In May – On June 24, PM Sudani appointed Bengin Rikani, the Minister of Construction, Housing, and Public Works, as the new head of Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA). Rikani’s appointment came after Sudani convened a meeting of senior officials to review government efforts to address security and compliance issues that have been preventing the Iraqi national carrier, Iraqi Airways, from operating in European skies. On June 27, Iraq’s Oil Ministry said that crude oil exports during May averaged 3.359 million bpd, about 53,000 bpd below April. The statement neglected to mention the total revenue generated by the exports and the average price at which the oil was sold. All of the May exports came from fields in southern and central Iraq, while exports from Kirkuk and the Kurdistan region remained suspended. In other developments, on June 26, electricity officials in the Kurdistan region said that a sudden drop in the pressure of gas supplied from the Khor-Mor gas field has forced them to shut down several power plants across the region. The senior grid control official in Sulaymaniyah said he expects the region to lose 70% of its power if the gas disruption continues. The problem has also impacted the neighboring Ninewa province, which lost some 150 megawatts of electricity it typically receives from the Kurdistan region. more…
Attention readers! ISHM will take a break next week for the 4th of July holiday, but it will be back the week after, with comprehensive coverage of the week we missed!
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.