Shafaq News- Middle East

The Golan Heights is "Israeli land," and Israel remains committed to controlling it as a vital area for its security, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Syria strongly condemned Colombia’s recognition of “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied Syrian Golan, based on security pretexts inconsistent with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions about the matter.

Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 war and declared its annexation in 1981, a move not recognized by the international community. In 2019, the administration of US President Donald Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, while the United Nations continues to regard it as occupied Syrian territory.

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Foul, sulfur-like odors persisted across parts of Baghdad for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, with residents, who spoke to Shafaq News, linking them to waste burning in Al-Nahrawan and near Al-Rashid Camp.

In Bismayah, southeast of the Iraqi capital, locals appealed to Environment Minister Sarwa Abd Al-Wahid and other authorities to intervene.

Iraq ranked as the world’s second most polluted country by the end of 2025 amid deteriorating air quality, poor waste management, and wider environmental pressures. Baghdad’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 113 two years earlier, while Karbala, Al-Anbar, and Diyala also appeared in international rankings of highly polluted cities.

Read more: The cost of filth: Iraq among the world’s most polluted nations

Lawmaker Bassem Al-Gharabi of the Ishraqat Kanoon bloc, in February, warned of growing environmental risks to public health, citing an annual mortality rate of 15 per 100,000 people and estimating the nationwide toll at roughly 69,000 deaths.

The Federal Integrity Commission previously outlined eight measures to improve air quality in the capital, including action against unauthorized burning sites and requirements for facilities to install and maintain filtration systems.

Read more: Death in the current: Pollution decimates Iraq’s river ecosystems

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi affirmed on Tuesday the government's interest in attracting more South Korean investment to the country, during a meeting with South Korean Ambassador to Iraq Lee Jun-il.

The ambassador delivered a written message to al-Zaidi from South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, congratulating him on the formation of the government and affirming Seoul's commitment to strengthening relations and partnership with Iraq in a way that serves the mutual interests of both countries and their peoples, and helps Iraq overcome current international economic challenges.

Al-Zaidi stressed the importance of developing bilateral relations between the two countries and working jointly to expand cooperation across various sectors, particularly investment, energy and technology, noting Iraq's keenness to cooperate with and benefit from the work and expertise of South Korean companies operating across the country.

The Prime Minister highlighted the opportunities and facilitating measures provided by the government, particularly in sectors where the Korean side possesses extensive expertise and which meet the needs of the Iraqi market, such as the automotive and electronics industries, as well as its efforts to enhance the investment environment and advance economic reforms.

Shafaq News- Al-Sulaymaniyah

The Rwanga Foundation launched Dr. Nawzad Ahmad Aswad’s new book, Cultural Criticism, at a signing ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Al-Sulaymaniyah province on Tuesday, attended by local officials, writers, intellectuals, artists, and political representatives.

The book examines literary texts and artistic works through their underlying cultural dimensions, drawing on Aswad’s critical and intellectual perspective.

دەزگای روانگە رێوڕەسمی ناساندنی کتێبی (رەخنەی رۆشنبیری) ئەنجامدابە ئامادەبوونی پارێزگاری سلێمانی، بەڕێوەبەری رۆشنبیری سلێمانی، مامۆستایانی زانکۆ، پۆلێک لە رۆشنبیران و ئەدیبان، نوێنەرانی حزب و لایەنە سیاسییەکان و هونەرمەندان، رێوڕەسمی ناساندن و بڵاوکردنەوەی کتێبی (رەخنەی… pic.twitter.com/UcqRkGCaPd

— Rwanga Foundation (@RwangaFdn) August 11, 2026

Rwanga, meaning “vision,” is a non-governmental organization founded in 2013 by Idris Nechirvan Barzani. Headquartered in Erbil, it works across Iraq in four main sectors —education, youth, environment, and vulnerable groups— and has reached more than three million people through its humanitarian, educational, and community development programs.

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Leaders of Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework (CF) held a “special meeting” with Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi on Tuesday, shortly after Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani concluded talks in Baghdad over the future of armed factions and their weapons, an informed political source told Shafaq News.

The meeting was underway at Al-Zaidi’s government headquarters, the source said, without disclosing its agenda or further details.

Qaani arrived in Baghdad on Monday with a high-level military and security delegation for an unannounced visit, meeting Badr Organization leader Hadi Al-Amiri and other political and faction figures before returning to Tehran.

A source previously told Shafaq News that Qaani opposed disarmament at this stage but cautioned the factions against confronting Iraqi security forces, warning that such a move “could trigger a broader domestic crisis.” He instead favored a political settlement that would allow them to keep their weapons temporarily and urged CF leaders to press Baghdad for a compromise.

Read more: SCOOP: Iran’s Qaani rejects Iraqi faction disarmament

The contacts come ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline set by the State Administration Coalition (SAC) to bring weapons under state control. The alliance, which includes Iraq’s main Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish political forces, has warned that armed activity outside state institutions after that date “will be treated as unlawful.”

Several Iran-aligned Iraqi armed factions, including Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat Al-Nujaba, and Kataib Sayyid Al-Shuhada, have rejected disarmament before foreign forces leave Iraq and guarantees are provided against external attacks, while other groups have shown willingness to reorganize their relationship with the state.

The Sept. 30 deadline coincides with the planned end of the US-led Coalition’s military presence in Iraq, a timeline factions have cited in linking disarmament to the withdrawal of foreign forces.

Read more: Days to disarm Iraq's factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s money supply has risen by nearly 10% since the start of the year while inflation has remained around 3%, a combination that could signal weaker non-oil activity or increased cash hoarding, economist Manar Al-Obaidi warned on Tuesday.

Under stable money velocity and output growth, a larger money supply would normally put upward pressure on prices. Al-Obaidi argued that the absence of such an increase points to two possible explanations: a marked slowdown in non-oil GDP or weaker circulation of money through the economy.

Read more: Iraq turns to bank borrowing to cover August salaries amid oil-revenue collapse

A non-oil slowdown, he warned, would directly hit private-sector employment. Trade, which is Iraq’s “third-largest contributor to GDP after oil and the government sector,” has also been pressured by the ASYCUDA customs system, higher tariffs and transport and shipping problems.

As an indicator of weaker commercial activity, Al-Obaidi cited a 41% year-on-year decline in Central Bank of Iraq sales, acknowledging that precise data measuring the fall in company activity and demand for jobs remain unavailable.

The second possibility is increased cash hoarding, driven by market concerns over government liquidity and leaving a larger share of issued money outside active circulation.

Al-Obaidi called for urgent stimulus for the commercial and industrial sectors through easier business procedures and tax and customs exemptions, arguing that low inflation should be maintained without constraining private-sector growth and job creation.

Iraq is also facing a liquidity squeeze, with the government moving to borrow more than 3 trillion dinars (about $2.3B) from local private banks to cover August salaries. Government spokesman Haidar Al-Aboudi put monthly state spending needs at about 10.8 trillion dinars (around $8.2B), against oil revenues of roughly 2.5 trillion dinars (nearly $1.9B), while economist Ahmed Eid warned that heavier public borrowing could restrict credit to private businesses and further slow economic activity.

Read more: 2026 budget: Iraq confronts unprecedented fiscal strain

Shafaq News- Maysan

Al-Amarah Investigative Court, which specializes in integrity-related cases, issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday against former Maysan MP Osama al-Budairi on charges of causing serious damage to public funds, a judicial source told Shafaq News.

Al-Budairi previously served as a member of the Iraqi parliament for Maysan province during the fifth electoral term and headed the Sabian-Mandaean parliamentary bloc. 

Read more: Corruption arrests in Iraq pass 210 under PM al-Zaidi

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi lawmaker Hiyam Al-Yasiri on Tuesday accused the Oil Ministry and state-owned oil marketer SOMO of blocking Iraqi tankers from carrying crude through the Strait of Hormuz despite US and Iranian security clearance, alleging possible corruption behind the decision.

Al-Yasiri, a member of the Reconstruction and Development Bloc, told Shafaq News that parliament’s Transport and Communications Committee questioned the transport minister and senior officials over the dispute. She maintained that the General Company for Maritime Transport has the vessels, technical capacity, and insurance required for the operation, but has not been authorized to proceed.

Linking the refusal to “suspicions of corruption” surrounding control of oil transportation, she urged Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi to intervene and allow the Transport Ministry to handle the shipments.

Read more: No exit but Hormuz: Iraq's economic vulnerability exposed

Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair put Iraq’s production at 2.7 million barrels per day on Aug. 8, of which between 1.5 million and 1.7 million bpd reach international markets.

As OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq exports about 95% of its crude through southern terminals, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to disruptions in Gulf shipping. Eco Iraq, an economic affairs observatory, estimated that disruption to the Strait of Hormuz had cost Iraq about 350 million barrels in lost exports by June 20, equivalent to roughly $37.7 billion in revenue.

An Iraqi delegation was expected to visit Iran for discussions on energy supplies and securing tanker passage through Hormuz, a government source previously told Shafaq News.

Read more: Iraq stands to gain most from US-Iran deal

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's Coordination Framework, the alliance of Shiite parties that has run the country since 2022, is weaker today than at any point since it was assembled. It is also, for now, the only game in Baghdad, and that pairing —a governing bloc losing its grip while facing no one able to take its place— explains more about where Iraqi politics is heading than any single quarrel inside it.

The Framework was not designed to be a party, or even a permanent coalition. It formed in 2021 for one purpose: to prevent Muqtada al-Sadr, the populist Shiite cleric whose list had won the most seats, from building a majority government that would have pushed the Iran-aligned parties out of power. Isam al-Faili, a professor of political science at Baghdad's Mustansiriyah University, describes an alliance that carried an unclear label from the day it was born and has only ever been a gathering of forces that agree on very little.

Read more: Explainer: Iraq’s Coordination Framework and Its Rise to Power

Hostility to al-Sadr supplied the glue. When he walked away, the glue began to dry. How this alliance holds, or frays, is not a domestic curiosity: it governs a major oil producer, sets the terms of Baghdad's dealings with both Washington and Tehran, and now holds the fate of the armed groups through which Iran projects power across the region.

Al-Sadr's exit is also the reason the Framework looks so commanding today. He boycotted the November 2025 election outright, and in his absence the Framework's constituent parties returned to the field and claimed roughly 175 of parliament's 329 seats, well above the 130 or so they controlled after the Sadrists quit parliament in 2022. They reached that total by running apart rather than together —Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law, Qais al-Khazali's Sadiqoon, Ammar al-Hakim's National State Forces, and Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's Reconstruction and Development each contested separately and allied with others.

Analysts have labeled the tactic-controlled fragmentation: split to harvest the maximum number of seats under an election law the Framework itself redrew to reward large lists, then regroup afterward to name the prime minister and parcel out the ministries. It worked cleanly, and in working it exposed the trait that now defines the alliance. The Framework can coordinate with precision when the prize is seats, and hardly at all once the question becomes what to do with them.

Read more: Exclusive: Coordination Framework split into three factions over armed groups

What holds it together has narrowed to a single shared interest: keeping hold of the state and everything attached to it —the offices, budgets, and patronage that have organized Iraqi government since the US invasion in 2003. The discipline this generates is real and easy to underrate. Framework leaders do not turn on one another in public, and when the bloc issues a collective position, none of them steps out to disown it. That the parties ran as separate lists and then reassembled without a public rupture is itself evidence of coordination, not decay. The unity is genuine at the level of the statement, even when it dissolves the moment anyone tries to act on it.

Nowhere is the discipline clearer than in how the Framework picks prime ministers, and nowhere is its dysfunction clearer either. Installing al-Sudani in 2022 took just over a year, the longest government-formation deadlock since 2003. Once in office, he tried to grow a base of his own, and by November 2025 his list had finished first, yet the Framework still refused him a second term, with corruption files trailing him as he was eased aside.

Read more: The Shiite Coordination Framework: Can govern Iraq, but cannot agree on a prime minister

Haitham Numan, a professor of political science at Britain's University of Exeter, reads that arc as a lesson the bloc teaches its own premiers: reach for independence and you become a target.

The search for al-Sudani's successor then stalled for five months. It broke only when US President Donald Trump moved against al-Maliki's bid to return, threatening to cut security cooperation and freezing dollar transfers to Baghdad until the Framework dropped him. The compromise that emerged was Ali al-Zaidi, a businessman with no party, no faction, and no political record, chosen because he alarmed no one.

Al-Zaidi was sworn in on May 14 with only 14 of 23 ministers approved; the interior and defense portfolios, the core of the security establishment, sat empty amid disputes the bloc could not settle. Al-Faili notes that even al-Zaidi was not a settled choice until the final moment. The relationship between the government and its makers is one of mutual dependence rather than separation; the Framework keeps producing weak premiers because a weak premier is the only kind all of its members will tolerate.

There is one dispute this method cannot swallow, and it is the one now pressing hardest on the alliance. Several Framework members are not only political parties; they also command weapons. Al-Amiri's Badr Organization is among the largest factions inside the Popular Mobilization Forces, the state-funded umbrella of mostly Iran-aligned armed groups; al-Khazali's Asaib Ahl al-Haq fields both lawmakers and fighters; the Hoqooq movement is widely understood as the political face of Kataib Hezbollah. So when the Framework authorized al-Zaidi in early June to bring all weapons under state control, presenting the step as a sovereign national decision, some of the figures signing off were being asked to take apart the very source of their leverage.

Al-Faili observes that arms are handled case by case rather than by any collective ruling of the bloc, and events bore him out within days. Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib al-Imam Ali announced they would place their brigades under state authority; Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba refused, with Kataib Hezbollah professing support while insisting on keeping its drones and missiles. The same fault line runs through the half-empty cabinet, where the security ministries remain contested precisely because they decide who commands the men with guns.

Driving all of it is outside pressure, Washington's envoy Tom Barrack, the frozen dollar transfers, and a September 30 deadline after which unlicensed weapons are to face legal action. The word both camps reach for is sovereignty, though they mean opposite things by it: for the state-first parties it describes a government monopoly on force, and for the resistance factions it describes defiance of American power.

The timing sharpens everything. A year after the war that left Iran badly weakened and stripped of its allies in Syria and Lebanon, Tehran now leans on Iraq as its most dependable partner, exactly as Baghdad is being pushed to disarm the groups that anchor that relationship.

Abbas Ghadir al-Jubouri, a researcher on Iraqi political affairs, argues that what looks like erosion is political repositioning rather than retreat, and that the Framework remains the government's sponsor with al-Zaidi its chosen product. On the matter of form, he is right; nothing on the horizon is poised to unseat the alliance. Numan's reading runs deeper and darker: the Framework stands at its weakest and still rules, held up less by its own strength than by the absence of any figure able to unify the Shiite house, offering what he calls protocol cover in place of real political cover. Both descriptions hold at once. The Framework is not going to dissolve, and it is not going to be replaced. What is draining out of it is substance.

The September 30 deadline puts to the alliance the question its whole design was meant to avoid. A coalition assembled to share power can absorb almost any disagreement that money and offices are able to settle. Whether it can survive being asked to surrender the weapons that make some of its members powerful in the first place is the test it has spent four years avoiding, and the one it can no longer postpone.

Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.

Shafaq News- Dhi Qar

Security forces and a Federal Commission of Integrity team arrested four employees of the Nasiriyah Municipality Directorate wanted on charges related to damaging public funds, a source in the Dhi Qar provincial administration told Shafaq News on Tuesday.

One of those arrested holds the position of land division official within the Interior Ministry's section of the Nasiriyah municipality, the source added.

An ongoing pursuit campaign in Nasiriyah is targeting municipal employees and officials over land-related files and damage to public funds. Recent days have seen the arrest of several current and former employees and officials, including a former and a previous director of the Nasiriyah municipality.

Nasiriyah's Investigative Court, which specializes in integrity-related cases, had earlier issued arrest warrants for eight municipal employees, before the pursuit later expanded to include employees of the real estate registration department, brokers, and other individuals over the same files.

Dhi Qar Governor Haitham al-Hamdani is now taking charge of the Nasiriyah municipality's administration and carrying out administrative changes and dismissals, with the local government affirming its support for judicial and integrity authorities in pursuing corruption files.

Shafaq News- Baghdad/ Erbil

The US dollar closed Tuesday’s trading higher in Baghdad and Erbil, hovering around 154,000 dinars per 100 dollars.

According to Shafaq News market survey, the dollar traded in Baghdad’s Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya central exchanges at 153,750 dinars per 100 dollars, up from 153,250 dinars in morning trading.

In the Iraqi capital, exchange shops sold the dollar at 154,250 dinars and bought it at 153,250 dinars, while in Erbil, selling prices stood at 153,450 dinars and buying prices at 153,400 dinars.

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih al-Zaidi is considering wide-ranging changes to the senior leadership of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), including its chairman and chief of staff, informed sources told Shafaq News on Tuesday.

Other senior posts held by figures linked to armed factions could be affected, with officers from the Iraqi Army and Counter-Terrorism Service, alongside figures from within the PMF, under consideration for several positions.

No final decision has been made, as al-Zaidi is still weighing the potential domestic political repercussions.

According to the sources, one objective is to shield the PMF from possible military, economic, and financial repercussions, including potential international sanctions, particularly US measures against the organization or some of its leaders, as figures linked to armed factions that Washington has repeatedly called to be dissolved continue to hold several senior positions within the organization.

The PMF was established in 2014 following a fatwa by Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to combat ISIS. Its forces fought alongside the Iraqi military and the Global Coalition and have since become a major component of Iraq's security landscape, although the role and autonomy of its factions remain politically contentious.

The discussions come amid renewed efforts to advance long-stalled legislation governing service and retirement within the PMF. On Sunday, lawmaker Falih al-Khazali, head of the Montasiroun (Victorious) parliamentary bloc, the political wing of Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada (a PMF faction), formally asked the government to place the bill on the Cabinet's agenda.

Read more: Iraq's PMF Service and Retirement Law

The legislation has been stalled since March 2025, when then-Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani withdrew it from parliament amid political disagreements that repeatedly contributed to a lack of quorum and disrupted legislative sessions. The dispute centers on provisions governing the PMF's institutional structure, service conditions, and retirement arrangements, while several leaders within the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite political parties excluding the Sadrist Movement, have attributed the delay to US interference.

At the same time, Baghdad faces a September 30 deadline to bring weapons under state control, with the State Administration Coalition (SAC), representing Iraq's main Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish political forces, warning that armed activity outside state institutions after that date "will be treated as unlawful." In contrast, Iran's Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani urged Iraqi armed factions "not to surrender their weapons for now," while cautioning against confrontation with government forces and pressing instead for a political settlement with Baghdad, an informed source told Shafaq News.

Read more: Days to disarm Iraq's factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?

Shafaq News- Damascus

Syria, on Tuesday, strongly condemned Colombia’s recognition of “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupiedSyrian Golan, based on security pretexts inconsistent with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions about the matter.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, expressed its categorical rejection to the Colombian position, affirming that the Golan is an inseparable part of Syrian territory. 

“The Colombian government’s statement constitutes a flagrant violation of the UN Charter,” the ministry stated, adding that Bogutta also violated statements by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres which affirmed that the Golan is Syrian territory, as well as the principle of the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by force andUN Security Council Resolution 497 of 1981. 

Statement Issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian Arab Republic pic.twitter.com/K2v0e3xeiJ

— وزارة الخارجية والمغتربين السورية (@syrianmofaex) August 11, 2026

Syria expressed appreciation for growing international support for its legitimate rights in the occupied Syrian Golan, noting that the number of states supporting the UN General Assembly resolution titled “The Syrian Golan” increased from 97 states in 2024 to 123 states in 2025.

The ministry also reaffirmed rejection of continued Israeli attacks and incursions into Syrian territory, calling on all states and international organizations “to uphold their responsibilities in respecting international law and United Nations resolutions.” 

Shafaq News- Babil

Babil's provincial council and administration filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against former MP and Janabi tribal sheikh Adnan Ne'ma Rashid al-Janabi, after he described the liberation of Jurf al-Nasr from ISIS as an occupation.

The Council’s Chairman Assad Mon'im Abdul Kadhim al-Muslamawi sent a letter to the Hillah Investigative Court demanding legal action against al-Janabi over statements he made on social media, according to a document obtained by Shafaq News.

Al-Janabi's remarks also referred to "resistance" against terrorism as involving "executions," the complaint stated, describing the comments as "insulting to the council" and containing "false claims that stoke sedition and incite public opinion."

He had recently stated about the Jurf al-Sakhr file, saying he possessed documentation showing roughly 3,000 homes had been demolished, while estimating the total number of fully destroyed homes at around 7,000. He also spoke of damage to residents' property and livelihoods, along with killings and looting he claimed had affected the area's residents and their belongings.

Read more:Jurf Al-Sakhar: A decade on, Iraq's displaced still barred from return

Ongoing controversy over the Jurf al-Nasr file, formerly known as Jurf al-Sakhr, and the return of residents displaced since late 2014 forms the backdrop to the dispute, amid political and tribal calls to disclose the fate of damaged properties and prepare conditions for families to return to the area.

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s Central Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced three convicted drug traffickers to death after authorities found 140 kilograms of methamphetamine and caffeine in their possession.

In July, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said authorities had seized 16.8 tons of narcotics since 2023, while courts issued 380 death sentences, 150 life sentences and 190 international arrest warrants in drug trafficking cases.

Read more: The Smuggler's Almanac: Iraq's war against narco-innovation

Shafaq News- Beirut

An Israeli drone strike on Tuesday wounded two people in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, before a second attack hit an ambulance team that arrived to rescue them, damaging its vehicle, the country's Health Ministry said.

The ministry condemned Israel's continued targeting of emergency crews as an "unacceptable violation of international humanitarian law and all international norms."

According to Lebanese media outlets, Civil Defense firefighters came under a drone attack while extinguishing a grass fire in Nabatieh, forcing them to withdraw to safety without injuries. Elsewhere in Nabatieh district, Israeli forces carried out a demolition operation in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, where intermittent artillery shelling and machine-gun fire targeted parts of the town.

In Bint Jbeil district, Israeli military vehicles advanced from Hadatha toward the eastern outskirts of Aita al-Jabal amid machine-gun fire before withdrawing toward positions in Hadatha. A drone dropped a stun grenade near Syrian workers on the outskirts of Kafra-Haris, causing no injuries.

Israeli drones were observed over Beirut's southern suburbs.

Meanwhile, local media cited aerial images showing extensive damage from an August 9 Israeli strike on a water facility along the Qasimiya-Ras al-Ain irrigation canal in Mansouri, as well as nearby homes, and warned of potential repercussions for the irrigation network and farmers along the southern coast. The canal is part of one of southern Lebanon's key irrigation projects and relies on water from the lower Litani River basin.

The developments follow three days of US-sponsored Lebanese-Israeli negotiations in Rome last week, during which the two sides exchanged preliminary lists of detainees and missing persons without reaching a final agreement on key territorial issues. Beirut sought the swift release of an initial group of civilian detainees and received a US pledge to provide answers regarding a ceasefire, while the Israeli delegation presented names of Lebanese Jews recorded as missing or killed. A further round is tentatively scheduled for September 1.

Lebanon's Health Ministry put the cumulative toll from the conflict between March 2 and August 9 at 4,335 killed and 12,277 wounded, including women and children.

Shafaq News- Erbil

Iran struck on Tuesday the headquarters of the Iranian Kurdish opposition Komala Party in the Alana Valley area, north of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Amjad Hussein, a party official, told Shafaq News that three missiles struck the headquarters, leaving two members slightly wounded and causing material damage to the premises.

On Saturday, Hussein said Tehran launched drone strikes on the party's positions near Al-Sulaymaniyah, without resulting in casualties.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, PM Masrour Barzani said attacks targeting the Kurdistan Region “came either directly from Iran or from inside Iraq through some militias.”

Read more: Two weeks of attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan, Iran claims US damage

Shafaq News- Erbil

An international chess tournament opened in Erbil on Tuesday, bringing together 62 players from across the Kurdistan Region and other parts of Iraq for five days of competition.

The fourth edition of the tournament, organized by Taj Chess Club and Academy, will run through Aug. 15, Shafaq News correspondent reported.

Taj Academy President Hussein Ali said the tournament provides players from different areas with an opportunity to compete and exchange experience, while helping develop emerging talent.

He added that this year's edition had expanded in participation and organization as the academy seeks to “promote competitive chess in the region.”

Shafaq News- Washington

US crude oil imports from Iraq fell to zero in the latest four-week average, down from 45,000 barrels per day in the preceding period, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The drop extends a sharp decline in Iraqi crude shipments to the United States. EIA weekly data showed no imports from Iraq in the weeks ending July 3, July 10, and July 17, after shipments had already fallen to zero in two weeks of June.

Iraq, OPEC's second largest producer, ranked seventh among the United States' top 10 crude oil suppliers based on 2024 volumes, according to the EIA's weekly import table. The United States imported an average of about 179,000 barrels per day of Iraqi crude in 2025, compared with 198,000 bpd in 2024 and 213,000 bpd in 2023.

Shafaq News- Damascus

A Syrian court sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad to death on Tuesday after convicting him of murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity, state news agency SANA reported.

The court also handed death sentences to his brother Maher al-Assad and several other defendants who remain at large. Former security official Atef Najib was also sentenced to death.

الإعدام لعاطف نجيب حضورياً و8 آخرين فارين يتقدمهم بشار وماهر الأسد لارتكابهم جرائم حرب وقتل وتعذيب وجرائم ضد الإنسانية بحق الشعب السوري.#سانا pic.twitter.com/ehZhnM3oQs

— الوكالة العربية السورية للأنباء - سانا (@Sana__gov) August 11, 2026

On December 8, 2024, al-Assad left Syria as opposition forces took full control of Damascus and the country’s governance. The Kremlin confirmed later that he and his family arrived in Moscow, where they were granted asylum on humanitarian grounds.

Shafaq News- Saladin

Three members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were shot dead by a fellow member inside a PMF base in Saladin province on Tuesday, a security source told Shafaq News.

The three victims, all from Al-Muthanna province, were on duty when their colleague opened fire, according to the source.

The motive remains unclear, and the group is yet to comment on the incident.

Shafaq News- Erbil

Erbil and Baghdad reached a final agreement on implementing the ASYCUDA customs system at Kurdistan Region border crossings, settling the dispute with a 50-50 split of border revenues, Kurdistan Region Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed told reporters on Tuesday.

The agreement followed “lengthy negotiations” overseen by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who had been in direct contact with Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi over the issue.

“With this issue resolved, there are no longer any obstacles to implementing ASYCUDA,” he added, arguing that the system would facilitate trade and benefit both Baghdad and Erbil.

Ahmed also called for the removal of federal customs checkpoints established in provinces bordering the Kurdistan Region —Nineveh, Kirkuk, Diyala, and Saladin— once the system takes effect. He described the checkpoints as unconstitutional and unlawful measures introduced by officials under the previous federal government.

ASYCUDA, the Automated System for Customs Data developed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), is designed to digitize customs procedures, including declarations, revenue collection, and trade data management.

Read more: Baghdad and Erbil standardize border procedures under ASYCUDA initiative

Shafaq News- Baghdad/ Erbil

Gold prices rose in Baghdad on Tuesday, with 21-carat foreign gold reaching 948,000 Iraqi dinars per mithqal, up 8,000 dinars from Monday, while prices in Erbil held steady.

According to Shafaq News market survey, wholesale markets on Baghdad’s Al-Nahr Street priced 21-carat Gulf, Turkish, and European gold at 948,000 dinars per mithqal for sale and 944,000 dinars for purchase. The selling price stood at 940,000 dinars on Monday.

Iraqi 21-carat gold was quoted at 918,000 dinars per mithqal for sale and 914,000 dinars for purchase.

At Baghdad jewelry shops, retail prices for 21-carat Gulf gold ranged between 950,000 and 960,000 dinars per mithqal, while Iraqi gold traded between 920,000 and 930,000 dinars.

In Erbil, gold prices were unchanged, with 22-carat gold selling at 978,000 dinars per mithqal, 21-carat at 935,000 dinars, and 18-carat at 800,000 dinars.

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Federal Police arrested four people, seized weapons, and shut down two alleged “fake” Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) offices during an operation in southern Baghdad on Tuesday, a security source told Shafaq News.

Acting on intelligence, police carried out the weapons-control operation in the Al-Buaitha farms of the Al-Dora area, which the source noted contains sites associated with armed factions he did not identify.

The detainees remain under investigation.

On Monday, Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced the closure of 71 “fake” offices claiming affiliation with the PMF, a state-affiliated umbrella organization of predominantly Shiite armed groups, as part of measures to regulate weapons and restrict their possession to state authorities. The group denied any connection to the offices.

Read more: Days to disarm Iraq's factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iran’s Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani urged Iraqi armed factions “not to surrender their weapons for now” while warning them against any armed confrontation with government forces, instead pressing for a political settlement with Baghdad, an informed source told Shafaq News on Tuesday.

Asked directly by faction leaders about Tehran’s position on handing their weapons to the state, Qaani opposed disarmament at this stage, the source said, adding that any clash with Iraqi security forces “could trigger a broader domestic crisis.”

Instead, Qaani advocated a political settlement that would avert confrontation while allowing the factions to retain their weapons for the time being. In separate meetings with leaders of the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework, he urged them to press the government for such an arrangement, according to the source.

Qaani arrived in Baghdad on Monday at the head of a high-level military and security delegation for an unannounced visit that included talks with Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri and other political and faction figures. He returned to Tehran after the meetings.

The Iranian official's visit comes less than two months before a Sept. 30 deadline set by the State Administration Coalition (SAC) to bring weapons under state control. The coalition, which includes Iraq’s main Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish political forces, has warned that armed activity outside state institutions after that date “will be treated as unlawful.”

Read more: Days to disarm Iraq's factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?

The disarmament drive has divided the factions; Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada have rejected relinquishing their military capabilities, arguing that the issue cannot be separated from the withdrawal of foreign forces and guarantees against external attacks. Other groups have signaled willingness to reorganize their relationship with the state.

Read more: What happens to Iraq's armed factions after September 30?

The Sept. 30 deadline also coincides with the planned end of the US-led Coalition’s military presence in Iraq, a linkage that armed factions have invoked in arguing against surrendering their weapons before foreign forces leave.