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KRG Civil Servants Owed $21bn After Decade of Delayed and Partial Salaries

The KRG owes its public sector workforce an estimated 30.8 trillion Iraqi dinars, approximately $21 billion, in unpaid wages, withheld salary increases, and accumulated arrears built up over eleven years…
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A Prime Minister or a Tea-Server? Inside Iraq’s Post-Election Shia Power Struggle

With the Federal Court’s ratification of the election results, Iraqi parliament is set to convene tomorrow for its inaugural session, where lawmakers will elect the parliament’s presidium. The president must…
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Iraq’s Consensus System Faces a Floor Vote It Wasn’t Built For

As Iraq approaches the constitutional timeline for forming a new government, disputes inside the main blocs are sharpening and beginning to test the informal power-sharing rules that have governed politics…
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As the SDF Integration Deadline Nears, the Leaks Tell the Real Story

As the year-end deadline for SDF integration into the HTS-led Syrian army looms, a war of leaks is sweeping the media. This comes amid reports of an expected, US-pushed visit…
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Iraq’s Customs War Is Quietly Rerouting Trade and Draining Kurdistan’s Gateways

Customs revenue at the Kurdistan Region’s border crossings has collapsed by fifty percent, and traders across northern Iraq now face the punishing reality of paying duties twice on the same…
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Turkey’s Legal Reforms Due by Late February as PKK Gara–Hakurk Pullout Is Expected to Follow

The Turkish parliament’s peace commission has extended its work through the end of February—aimed at advancing legal reforms—amid Turkish media reporting that a PKK evacuation from the Gara and Hakurk…
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A New Account of Israel–SDF Ties Raises the Stakes for Syria’s Northeast

The Washington Post reports that the SDF “maintains ties to Israel,” and that Druze figures linked to Israel’s security establishment funneled money to Druze militants in Sweida via the SDF…
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Mapped, Exposed, Targetable: How Strike Risk Is Forcing a Managed Militia Transition

In an unusual statement, the head of Iraq’s top judicial body, Faiq Zaidan, has said Shia militia leaders have accepted to hand over their weapons to the “state” and transition…
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Damascus Tests the SDF With a “Three Divisions” Offer

The Syrian government and the SDF are accelerating talks ahead of the end-of-2025 deadline set out in the March 10 Damascus–SDF agreement, but the chances of a last-minute, full integration…
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How a bitter Washington divorce unravelled the secret U.S. fortune of the Barzani brothers

In a sprawling series of federal lawsuits filed between August 2023 and late 2025, Mahtaub Moore — a former Republican congressional candidate and veteran political operative — has alleged that…
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