Iraqi intelligence agencies have information suggesting that armed factions may be preparing to target Saudi Arabia, prompting a series of security measures over the past several hours, including raising the country’s security forces to their highest state of alert, Iraqi security sources told MBN.
Late Thursday, Iraq’s Security Media Cell announced that, on the orders of the commander in chief of the armed forces, elevated the country’s security and combat readiness levels. The measures include “training exercises and troop movements,” though the statement did not specify which units were involved or where they would be deployed.
The sources said that battalions from Iraq’s Counter Terrorism Service had been redeployed from the provinces of Nineveh, Salah al-Din and Anbar to Baghdad.
The moves come days before the expiration of a deadline set by Iran-aligned armed groups for the Iraqi government. The deadline falls on Aug. 7, though the Shiite religious calendar’s one-day offset means it will effectively take effect at midnight Saturday.
The factions announced the deadline in a statement issued after the joint U.S.-Saudi airstrikes on July 29 that targeted Popular Mobilization Forces facilities in seven Iraqi provinces, killing and wounding dozens of people, including advisers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
Since the beginning of the week, Baghdad has witnessed intensive political and government efforts aimed at persuading the factions not to launch any military action against Saudi Arabia. So far, however, those efforts do not appear to have succeeded.
Government Signals Harder Line
On Aug. 5, the State Administration Coalition held its regular meeting at the government palace, attended by the president, prime minister, parliament speaker, president of the Supreme Judicial Council and representatives of the Kurdistan Regional Government. In a statement issued afterward, the coalition said that any “armed activity outside the authority of the state” after Sept. 30, 2026, would be handled under Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law.
The date is the same deadline Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi presented during his July visit to Washington, where he met President Donald Trump. It also coincides with the scheduled end of the international coalition’s combat mission in Iraq.
A source close to the prime minister told MBN that the government no longer believes the issue can be postponed.
“There is no more room for delay,” the source said. “Weapons must come under state control, or there will be confrontation.”
Another notable development came when the state-run Iraqi News Agency republished the full text of Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005 alongside the government’s statement — an unusual move given that the law has remained in force for 21 years without amendment.
Article 1 of the law defines terrorism as any criminal act targeting individuals or official or unofficial institutions with the aim of undermining security, stability or public order. Article 2 lists acts classified as terrorism, while Article 4 prescribes penalties of up to death for perpetrators, instigators, planners and financiers.
No separate legislation has yet been enacted to govern the period after the factions’ deadline expires. Members of parliament’s Security and Defense Committee are drafting a resolution that would prohibit all military activity outside official state institutions and require armed groups to surrender medium and heavy weapons, drones and missiles.
A source close to the prime minister told MBN that the Supreme Judicial Council is also playing a role in developing the legal framework for restricting weapons to state control.
On Thursday, Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zaidan met with Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir al-Shammari, director of the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. According to a council statement, the two discussed “legal measures that ensure the rule of law and support security and stability.”
Later the same day, Zaidan met with Lt. Gen. Zaid Hoshi, head of Iraq’s Counter Terrorism Service, to discuss coordination and cooperation between the two institutions.
Taken together, the meetings brought together, in a single day, the officials responsible for the judiciary, executive orders and the security force that could ultimately be tasked with carrying them out.
New Security Leadership
Al-Shammari is no stranger to Iraq’s security establishment. He commanded the Baghdad Operations Command from 2013 to 2016 before serving as inspector general at the Ministry of Defense, deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command and later interior minister under former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
He now heads the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, which was reactivated several weeks ago after being dissolved for nearly 12 years. The office oversees the ministries of defense and interior, the Counter Terrorism Service, the National Security Service, the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, the Popular Mobilization Forces, border crossings and the Military Industrialization Commission.
While commanding Baghdad Operations in 2016, al-Shammari surrounded a headquarters belonging to Kataib Hezbollah in Baghdad’s Palestine Street, one of the rare instances in which a senior Iraqi officer confronted an armed faction inside the capital while remaining in his post. Kataib Hezbollah has for long been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S.
The Counter Terrorism Service has also undergone new leadership. It is now headed by Lt. Gen. Zaid Hoshi, the former chief of military intelligence, following a broader reshuffle that also affected the National Security Service and the Federal Police.
Neither al-Shammari nor Hoshi is regarded as being aligned with the armed factions, a factor that officers who spoke to MBN said was central to their appointments.
“The changes were not arbitrary,” one senior military commander said, adding that the prime minister is seeking commanders capable of managing the consequences of a potential confrontation.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
