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Erbil Requests a UN Envoy to Organize Relations with Iraq

The Kurdistan region wants a UN Envoy to Organize Relations between Erbil and Baghdad (Reuters)
The Kurdistan region wants a UN Envoy to Organize Relations between Erbil and Baghdad (Reuters)
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Erbil Requests a UN Envoy to Organize Relations with Iraq

The Kurdistan region wants a UN Envoy to Organize Relations between Erbil and Baghdad (Reuters)
The Kurdistan region wants a UN Envoy to Organize Relations between Erbil and Baghdad (Reuters)

The Presidency of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq announced that the Security Council approved a request submitted by Erbil to send a UN envoy to organize the relationship with Baghdad and find radical solutions for their differences.

The Presidency said in a statement that Council members expressed their support of a request by Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, asking for the appointment of an official to facilitate dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad over outstanding issues.

The statement noted that the Security Council would issue next week a draft resolution to renew the work of the UN mission and discuss the issue in a special session.

The federal government in Baghdad did not comment on the request.

Relations between the two governments soured significantly in the energy file following the decision of the Federal Supreme Court regarding the unconstitutionality of the region's oil sector.

Head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the Iraqi Parliament Vian Sabri confirmed that the Security Council countries agreed to the request to send a special envoy to regulate the relationship between the two parties.

Sabri told Asharq Al-Awsat that the goal is to reach an agreement and find radical solutions to the differences between the two governments under the Iraqi constitution.

She noted that regulating the relationship between the two governments has become a necessary matter, especially since there have been outstanding differences, namely the issue of oil and natural resources.

Erbil's request comes when the political process in Iraq is going through a phase of political impasse due to the inability of the winning electoral blocs to form a new Iraqi government.

The Kurdish parties' distribution between two Shiite alliances significantly weakened their position towards Baghdad. The two parties' differences are related to the constitution, especially Article 140 on Kirkuk and the disputed areas and Article 111 on oil.

However, the differences between the two main Kurdish parties, the KDP led by Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) headed by Bafel Talabani, over the Presidency damaged the unity of the Kurds regarding the unresolved issues.

PUK senior member Mahmoud Khoshnaw told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Patriotic Union wants constitutional solutions, especially after the Federal Court's decision.

Khoshnaw explained that the internal dialogue, albeit under external auspices, is critical to resolving differences, some of which have lasted for decades, stressing that it has become necessary to separate political and economic issues.

On Saturday, the Iraqi Oil Ministry said that the federal government aims to establish a new oil company in the Kurdistan region, seeking to enter into new service contracts with oil firms currently operating under the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

On May 7, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar said that the ministry would start implementing a February federal court ruling that declared the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region's oil and gas sector unconstitutional, Reuters reported.

Iraq then asked international oil and gas companies operating in the Kurdistan region to sign new contracts with the state-owned marketing company, SOMO, instead of the KRG.

The letters marked the first direct contact between the ministry and the oil companies operating in the Kurdistan region. The move follows years of attempts by the federal government to control the revenues of KRG, including local court rulings and threats of international arbitration.

The Ministry of Oil said it will pursue legal actions against companies that continue to operate under "unlawful production sharing contracts" and "do not engage in good faith negotiations to restructure their contracts."

Meanwhile, the UN Sec-Gen Special Representative for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, presented a comprehensive briefing on the Iraqi situation before the UN Security Council.

Plasschaert said that Iraqis continue to wait for "a political class that will roll up its sleeves to make headway on the country's long list of outstanding domestic priorities."

"A sincere, collective, and urgent will to resolve political differences must now prevail – it must prevail for the country to move forward and meet its citizens' needs."

She warned that "Iraqi political inaction comes at a huge price. Not (in the short term) for those in power, but for those desperately trying to make ends meet daily."

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Arab World

Syria President Appoints Kurdish Leader Mazloum Abdi as His Adviser

The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces Mazloum Abdi speaks during a news conference at the presidential palace in Damascus, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP)
The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces Mazloum Abdi speaks during a news conference at the presidential palace in Damascus, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP)
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Syria President Appoints Kurdish Leader Mazloum Abdi as His Adviser

The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces Mazloum Abdi speaks during a news conference at the presidential palace in Damascus, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP)
The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces Mazloum Abdi speaks during a news conference at the presidential palace in Damascus, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP)

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appointed Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi as a presidential adviser, state media said on Friday, days after Abdi announced the dissolution of his Kurdish forces under an integration deal with Damascus.

"Mustafa Khalil Abdi is appointed as adviser to the presidency of the republic," announced the decree, signed by Sharaa and published by state news agency SANA.

Abdi, who has been known by several different names, was for years the leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Washington-backed group at the forefront of the battle against the ISIS group.

On Tuesday, he announced the SDF's dissolution, part of a deal he made with Sharaa in January to integrate the Kurds' forces and civilian administration into the state.

Syria's new authorities who toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 have been seeking to extend state control across the whole country.

The integration deal was a major victory for Sharaa, but an end to long-held Kurdish hopes for autonomy.

US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said on Tuesday that "this is what real integration looks like... former counterparts with differing points of view crafting a diplomatic solution to strengthen the sovereign nation of Syria".

"Securing substantive roles for our valued partners" including Abdi within the government "pays due respect to their leadership, the sacrifices of our Kurdish partners, and the constructive contribution they have made to regional stability", Barrack added, without indicating what role Abdi was to have.

Abdi said Tuesday that the SDF's dissolution followed "the completion of the process of integrating our forces into the brigades of the Syrian army".

The SDF was formed in 2015 at the instigation of the United States, which was impressed by the Kurdish fighters who had defeated ISIS in Kobane in the north and was seeking a reliable partner in the ongoing battle against the extremists.

It was the de facto army of the semi-autonomous administration which the Kurds set up in north and northeast Syria after seizing territory battling ISIS during Syria's civil war.

But Abdi signed up to the integration deal following clashes this January that saw the Kurds lose swathes of territory to government troops, and as the Kurds' longtime backer Washington drew close to the new authorities in Damascus.

During the violence, Sharaa signed a decree enshrining the Kurds' national rights and recognizing Kurdish as a national language -- an unprecedented step since Syria's independence in 1946.

Last week, Abdi announced that the integration of the Kurdish administration with the Syrian state was complete, adding: "Our struggle will continue, to cement our people's rights in the constitution."

From joining the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in 1990 through to announcing the dissolution of the SDF, Abdi has amassed significant influence among Syria's Kurds.

Born in northern Syria's Kobane area near the Turkish border in 1967, Abdi was for years seen in fatigues -- a modest, mildly spoken but savvy military leader, more comfortable in his native Kurdish than Arabic.

Nanar Hawach, Syria analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Abdi was among "PKK veterans" who established the People's Protection Units, or YPG, in Syria, in an announcement that came after the civil war erupted in 2011.

The PKK, considered a "terrorist" group by Türkiye and its Western allies, waged a deadly insurgency against Ankara for decades before last year formally renouncing its armed struggle.

Abdi rose to prominence in Syria during the battle for Kobane, now symbolic for the Kurds after their 2015 victory there over ISIS following months of fierce battles.

During the civil war, Abdi maintained a careful balancing act between various sides including Washington, an ally of Türkiye, which launched cross-border offensives targeting Syrian Kurdish fighters it views as PKK offshoots.

Abdi also held cautious ties with the Assad government, which accused the Kurds of "separatism", and with its ally Russia.

After Assad's ouster, Abdi showed openness to the new authorities and started negotiations as the balance of power shifted and as Western powers including Washington moved to support Sharaa.

Abdi, who studied engineering in Aleppo, was reportedly close to the PKK's now-jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan and took part in clashes inside Türkiye, leading to his arrest in Syria under Hafez al-Assad in the 1990s.

Abdi has said he later went to Europe then to Iraq, where the PKK long had its rear base in the country's north.

He was identified in the presidential decree as Mustafa Khalil Abdi, and has been known by other names including Ferhat Abdi Sahin and Mazloum Kobane.

He is on Türkiye’s list of "wanted terrorists" with a bounty on his head and an Interpol red notice out for him.

Arab World

Israeli Military Says It Killed Sinwar's Bodyguard in Gaza

Sinwar attends a public event in Gaza in 2021. (AP)
Sinwar attends a public event in Gaza in 2021. (AP)
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Israeli Military Says It Killed Sinwar's Bodyguard in Gaza

Sinwar attends a public event in Gaza in 2021. (AP)
Sinwar attends a public event in Gaza in 2021. (AP)

The Israeli military said on Thursday it had killed one of late Hamas political chief Yahya al-Sinwar’s bodyguards in a strike in Khan Younis on Monday.

It identified him as Rizq Suhail Abu Shahma, a member of the Nukhba Force, an elite unit of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing. The military said he took part in the raid on the Re’im military base during the October 7, 2023, attack.

In a statement also announcing the killing of another Nukhba operative, the military accused Abu Shahma of advancing plans against Israeli forces and trying to rebuild Hamas’ capabilities in what it called a systematic breach of the ceasefire. It said the strike was carried out to eliminate the threat.

Hamas field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abu Shahma was from the al-Muaskar area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and served as a company commander in the Nukhba Force, which was responsible for Sinwar’s security.

The sources said Abu Shahma took part in the October 2023 attack and in abducting Israelis, some of whom he held for a short period.

Several people who rotated as Sinwar’s guards have since been killed in Israeli operations, the sources said, either in direct strikes, in public places or while carrying out attacks alongside other Qassam fighters.

Not all of the guards were from Khan Younis, where Sinwar lived. Some came from other areas, including Rafah.

“Sinwar consistently preferred to be accompanied by well-trained members of the Nukhba Force, unlike other leaders who were guarded by members of the Security and Protection Department within Hamas’ General Security Service,” one source said.

Other Hamas sources, however, said Sinwar’s permanent guards - those who accompanied him continuously and whom he did not replace - came from his innermost family circle. Among them was his nephew, Ibrahim Mohammed Sinwar, who was killed while accompanying his uncle during the Gaza war.

Sinwar was killed in an unexpected clash with Israeli soldiers in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in October 2024.

Factions fear a surge in targeted killings

Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip fear Israel will step up its airstrikes in the coming period to kill as many senior commanders and prominent field operatives from their armed wings as possible.

Israel killed Hamas operative Azzam al-Abadla in a strike on a tent in Khan Younis on Thursday afternoon. Another person was critically wounded in a strike targeting him in Gaza City’s al-Shati refugee camp.

Armed wings, including the Qassam Brigades and Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, have issued directives to their commanders and operatives warning that Israel intends to escalate targeted killings, particularly as parliamentary elections approach in October.

The directives came before Israel’s Channel 13 reported that Israeli military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir had ordered his forces to intensify targeted killings in Gaza. Security officials, meanwhile, warned against dragging the military into unnecessary fighting because of the elections.

Zamir had visited Israeli forces in Gaza and said the military would continue its operations until the territory was fully disarmed and everyone who took part in the October 7, 2023, attack was eliminated.

Two field sources from Palestinian factions told Asharq Al-Awsat that the directives instructed commanders and operatives to change locations and move to safe places without using communications devices.

They were told to move covertly and avoid contacting anyone in their close circles who might be under Israeli intelligence surveillance.

The sources said the directives warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government did not intend to approve any agreement for a complete ceasefire and would instead escalate targeted killings in the run-up to the elections.

Israel could launch major operations lasting several days, carry out multiple killings in a single day, or strike several targets simultaneously, the directives said.

The sources said Israel had used such tactics repeatedly, particularly when it breached truces during the war.

“Palestinian blood, whether in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, has always served as fuel for any Israeli government seeking to save itself,” a Hamas political source in Gaza told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday.

Netanyahu was among the Israeli figures who had most consistently pursued that approach, the source added.

The source expressed little confidence that the situation would change or that Israeli ceasefire violations would end after the Israeli elections, regardless of whether Netanyahu or someone else won.

Arab World

Iraqi Govt to Asharq Al-Awsat: Al-Zaidi Will Not Resign, Arms Control Follows Legal Process

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in Baghdad on Aug. 19, 2026. (Iraqi government media)
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in Baghdad on Aug. 19, 2026. (Iraqi government media)
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Iraqi Govt to Asharq Al-Awsat: Al-Zaidi Will Not Resign, Arms Control Follows Legal Process

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in Baghdad on Aug. 19, 2026. (Iraqi government media)
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in Baghdad on Aug. 19, 2026. (Iraqi government media)

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi is not considering resignation and will not do so, even as pressure mounts over armed factions, the government said on Thursday, insisting that the weapons issue was “a constitutional principle” to be addressed through legal channels.

Officials and sources said, however, that parties within the ruling Coordination Framework were pressing the government to retreat from its plans after Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf called for turning the drive to bring weapons under state control into “a merely symbolic project.”

“Al-Zaidi pledged to the Iraqi people in the government’s statement to press ahead with strengthening state authority and upholding the rule of law,” Haider al-Aboudi, the prime minister’s spokesman, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“The government has taken substantive and important steps toward bringing weapons under state control and remains committed to completing the process in line with Iraq’s sovereignty and national interests,” he said.

He stressed that the government viewed the weapons issue as “a constitutional principle to be addressed through institutions and legal channels in light of the country’s supreme interests, sovereignty, stability, and international relations.”

That commitment has not eased the pressure on the government as it tries to implement the plan. From the outset, al-Zaidi tied his government’s success to its ability to strengthen state authority and fulfill Iraq’s international commitments.

Asked about al-Zaidi’s future under mounting pressure, al-Aboudi said: “Resignation has never been, and will never be, a means of dealing with the issue of bringing weapons under state control.”

“The Iraqi government will continue to carry out its responsibilities and complete the executive measures it has begun, under a clear national vision that strengthens state authority and safeguards unified national decision-making and Iraq’s supreme interests,” al-Aboudi vowed.

Bringing all weapons under state control was among the commitments previously approved by parties in the State Administration Coalition. The coalition renewed its support for the measure on August 6 and called for adherence to the timetable for steps to be taken after September 30.

From that point, the statement said, any armed activity outside the state’s framework would be dealt with under the counterterrorism law.

During a White House visit on July 14, al-Zaidi also pledged that no faction would be allowed to bear arms in Iraq after the September deadline, which coincides with the withdrawal of US forces.

Groups that have joined the process, first announced on June 3, include Saraya al-Salam, led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr; Asaib Ahl al-Haq, led by Qais al-Khazali; and Kataib al-Imam Ali, which is affiliated with Shibl al-Zaidi and announced a “political separation” from its fighters within the Popular Mobilization Forces.

The plan has faced fierce resistance from other factions operating under the PMF and from allied groups within the Coordination Framework.

Iranian officials have markedly stepped up visits to Baghdad. Mohsen Qomi, a representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, arrived in the capital on Monday and attended part of a ruling-alliance meeting that al-Zaidi also attended.

The factions had earlier leaked reports of unannounced visits by Esmail Qaani, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Ghalibaf urged Coordination Framework leaders not to abandon the factions and to “prevent the government from ending the factions’ ability to retain their weapons.”

Ghalibaf was quoted as saying the Coordination Framework should help turn the weapons-control plan into “a merely symbolic project,” adding: “Iran will not allow the United States to manipulate the balance of power in Baghdad.”

At the end of his visit, Ghalibaf said in Najaf, southwest of Baghdad, that “a new security order is taking shape in the region, and Iraq is Iran’s primary partner in it.”

The factions appear to have gained negotiating leverage after receiving urgent assistance from Tehran.

A senior adviser in the State Administration Coalition said Iranian officials had intervened to demand that the weapons-control plan be postponed and its approach changed.

Under the proposed alternative, the surrender of weapons would be replaced by mutual guarantees, including a commitment by the factions not to use their arms.

“The resistance factions have asked the government to find a strong and reliable alternative to their weapons that they can depend on before they can be persuaded to relinquish their arsenals,” said Kadhem al-Fartousi, a spokesman for Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

“The factions want guarantees regarding an alternative to their weapons,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

‘No need to fear isolation’

The discussion of guarantees shows how the rhetoric has recently shifted from bringing weapons under state control to regulating them.

Two Coordination Framework officials said parties within the alliance had “translated Iranian pressure into what appeared to be an accelerating effort to push the government to change its plans.”

One official said alliance leaders had told al-Zaidi in bilateral talks and broader meetings that “Baghdad should not fear US sanctions or international isolation if the plan to bring weapons under state control is not completed on schedule.”

Many in Iraq believe allowing factions run by the Revolutionary Guards to keep their weapons “would carry a heavy cost.”

The president of the Kurdistan Region said in televised remarks in mid-August that “international isolation is drawing closer to Baghdad unless it finds a solution to the factions’ weapons.”

Coordination Framework leaders, however, believe sanctions or isolation remain highly unlikely for Iraq under current conditions, sources said.

They argue that the United States and other countries will continue to need Iraqi oil to replace strategic reserves depleted during the war with Iran, making it difficult to impose broad economic sanctions on Iraq.

They urged al-Zaidi to adopt that assessment and retreat from his plan to bring the factions’ weapons under state control.

Some also pressed him to “close the chapter on the anti-corruption campaign,” arguing that Iraqi oil would retain strategic value in international markets and limit Washington’s ability to impose economic sanctions on Baghdad.

Al-Zaidi “rejected that assessment,” according to the sources. A senior official told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Zaidi “views resignation as an option if he finds himself forced to retreat from his international commitments.”

A person close to al-Zaidi said the prime minister believed that “the Coordination Framework and its allied parties are treating him as a competitor, not as a partner that shares responsibility for the government he formed about three months ago.”

The factions do not view al-Zaidi’s fate as a central concern. “The prime minister’s resignation is a personal right and a political decision for the Coordination Framework to address. It has never been a demand of the factions,” al-Fartousi said.

‘A new direction’

A gap has emerged between the government and its Coordination Framework allies over the cost of retreating from Iraq’s international commitments - a move that could affect al-Zaidi’s political credibility and the future of his government.

From a Western perspective, the repeated shifts in the positions of Iraq’s Shiite parties reflect Iran’s practice of delaying decisive action.

A Western diplomat who served in Iraq from 2019 to 2023 said he believed “Iran’s allies in Iraq are trying as hard as they can to buy time for the government in Tehran.”

The diplomat said US officials were eager to see “a new direction under al-Zaidi’s leadership” and that the American position remained “clear and unequivocal on ending the influence of weapons outside state control.”

He said US officials had told Coordination Framework leaders that Washington was “eagerly awaiting the end of September to achieve the fundamental objective of asserting state authority and ending the influence of unregulated weapons.”

Al-Zaidi is not the first Iraqi prime minister to face a dilemma over armed factions. But he faces an unprecedented test: fulfilling his commitments to bring weapons under state control while preserving political cohesion under complex domestic and foreign pressure.