Ishm: 1 – May 8, 2025 – Iraq

The main dishes to remember:

• Politics: Souani in Ankara to sign several bilateral agreements with Turkey – On May 8, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani arrived in Ankara for interviews with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the visit, the two parties signed several memorandums of the agreement covering cooperation in the military industry, fighting on drug trafficking, higher education, emergency management, reinstallation of migrants and police training, according to a press release from the Sudani office. The Sudani's agenda in Ankara also included security talks, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Water, Energy and Development Road Project, among other subjects. Addressing journalists in Ankara, the Souani pointed out that the development road project “is a very good opportunity for the region as well as for the world. This is the economic integration of regional countries ”. On the PKK issue, the Souani stressed that Baghdad considers the presence of the illegal group, expressing its support for its dissolution. In other developments, on May 2, the Squisions defended his recent decision to invite Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to attend the next Arab League summit in Baghdad. During a television interview, the Souani stressed that the participation of Sharaa – opposed by some of its allies in the coordination of the coordination framework – was important so that Sharaa could present its point of view on the future of Syria. On May 4, Iraqi Finance Minister Tayf Sami acknowledged that the government authorized him to operate $ 2.3 billion in tax deposit accounts to provide liquidity to pay the public sector wages for April. The Minister played withdrawal – which raised concerns concerning the government's ability to comply with its obligations and questions about the legality of the decision – as a standard procedure to use funds that would ultimately be part of the state income. more…
• Security and Humanitarian: Child killed, three Iraqis injured in explosions and clashes with the Islamic State – Between May 2 to 8, the explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED) in Anbar and a rest of war in Ninewa killed a 10 -year -old boy and injured three civilians, two of whom were children. Meanwhile, the security forces clashed with suspected Islamic State activists in the Tarmiyah district, north of the Iraqi capital. The security forces killed one of the activists and injured two others during the clashes, while a fighter of the popular mobilization forces (PMF) was also injured. In other developments, on May 7, armed clashes broke out between members of two tribes of the Al-Husseiniyah district on the outskirts of Baghdad. Several houses were burnt down during the fighting, which involved the use of mild and medium -sized automatic weapons, but there was no report of victims. more…
• Economy and climate: The movement due to climate change increases sharply in southern Iraq – On May 7, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) published new data reflecting a new increase in the movement induced by the climate affecting communities in southern Iraq. The data shows that in March 2025, at least 172,000 people had been moved from their areas due to the shortage of water and the environmental degradation having an impact on 12 provinces. Almost half of the displaced families (14,136) come from the province of DHI-Qar, followed by Maysan (5,318 families) and Diwaniyah (2,987 families). The most affected district is al-rifai in the province of DHI-Qar, which reported that 4,396 displaced families. The new data indicate that the number of individuals displaced by the water shortage and other climatic factors has increased by 25,000 since the publication of the previous data set in August 2024. In other developments, on May 2, the DHI-Qar oil company declared that it had restarted production on the Oil Subba field at a rate of 20,000 barrels per day after a break of almost 18 months for repairs. On May 5, Iraqi private banking leaders said that transactions managed through electronic payment systems increased by more than 1,000% in the past five years, from 1.7 Billion of IQs in 2020 to 21,000 billion people in IQD in 2024. On May 6, the Iraqi government declared that it would send 50,000 tonnes of wheat as a gift to the people of Tunisia. more…

For more information On most institutions, key actors, political parties and places mentioned in our take -out dishes or in the stories that follow, see the ISHM reference guide.