Iraq Archives - Arab Digest

A missile launched by Yemen's Ansar Allah (Huthi) movement hit a building owned by Saudi Arabia's state oil company Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran on Tuesday

The Gulf and the US: shifting sands

Summary: as a consensus emerges that US hegemony in the Gulf is over and Washington continues to cast around for an acceptable exit strategy from the war with Iran, it is none too soon to consider how best the US could safeguard its national interests there into the longer term.

October 15, 2026

Iran-backed militias, funded by the Iraqi state, celebrate National Day in the streets of Baghdad, Saturday 3rd October.

Iraq’s militia deadline is losing its leverage

Summary: Baghdad has backed down from its efforts to disarm Popular Mobilisation Forces pushing the deadline back to 2027 thus sending a clear signal that for now at least it has neither the political clout or the hard power to bring the militias under its control.

October 6, 2026

Riyadh's "Suez moment" arrives as Washington scales back its commitments, leaving the Gulf states to face regional rivals without an American shield.

Saudi Arabia’s ‘Suez Moment’

Summary: recent events have forced a recognition that the US hegemony in the Middle East is over. How the inevitable vacuum will be filled remains far from clear. But it is hard to be optimistic in the short to medium-term even though there is surely an opportunity for “a new beginning.”

October 1, 2026

American servicemen on parade in Iraq. The departure of coalition forces marks a dramatic recalculation for Erbil, forcing the KRG to balance ties between Baghdad and Washington without its historic military shield.

Iraqi Kurds Will Face Narrowing Options After US Troops Leave

Summary: as regional insecurity grows the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq has placed Iraqi Kurdistan in a difficult and challenging position.

September 29, 2026

ehran’s maritime legal strategy takes a rather direct form on the shoreline, where signboards outline precisely who—and what—is barred from the coastal zone.

Navigating the Strait of Hormuz toll, US sanctions and maritime law

Summary: the Strait of Hormuz is still not open for traffic, with the US targeting Iranian oil tankers and imposing more sanctions as the standoff continues, while differing views on maritime rights are further muddying the waters.

September 22, 2026

Saudi Arabia’s military defeat in Yemen has global consequences

Summary: a failed Saudi-backed ground offensive enabled Huthi forces to capture critical Red Sea territory, seize Western weaponry and severely disrupt global energy markets.

September 21, 2026

Expatriates relaxing in an Erbil venue during the peak of international military and humanitarian intervention, a vibrant presence that has now largely vanished, leaving behind a legacy of stark economic inequality.

Erbil: departure of the expats

Summary: our contributor returns to Erbil to discover an altered city, one caught in political stasis and sharp inequalities of wealth.

September 15, 2026

The people of Bahrain - majority Shia, ruled by a Sunni dictatorship propped up by Washington - are in the streets marching for Khamenei

Religious restrictions in Bahrain reveal sectarian tensions, regional power struggles

Summary: with the Iran war continuing, Bahrain’s majority Shi’a population finds itself under siege, facing further repression and religious restrictions from a regime that sees it as a security threat.

September 8, 2026

Fallen PMF members whose deaths underscore Prime Minister al-Zaidi's high-wire act: reining in autonomous armed factions without triggering a domestic political explosion.

Iraq’s Saudi challenge

Summary: Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi faces a daunting challenge seeking to halt Iranian backed militias from attacking Saudi Arabia while simultaneously encouraging desperately needed Saudi investment.

August 27, 2026

Syrian Security forces thwart an attempt to smuggle a shipment of "advanced weapons" and missiles across the Iraqi border, intended for Hezbollah, 16 July 2026

Iraq and Syria: a cautious courtship

Summary: Iraq and Syria have long distrusted one another but economic necessities and the Iran war are leading to a warming in relations.

August 21, 2026

Representatives meet in Damascus to draft Syria’s new anti-money laundering strategy, aiming for international standards while banks manually screen transactions without modern software.

MENA and the flaws in FATF

Summary: five MENA countries are on the Financial Action Task Force’s grey-list “for increased monitoring for strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and counter-proliferation financing frameworks”. Getting off the list may be down more to politics than process.

August 20, 2026

Arab Digest top five podcast countdown: #2 The Gulf and three mad countries

Summary: a top GCC analyst lays bare the blunders and the security crisis the Iran war has provoked in the Gulf states.

August 19, 2026

Iraq

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