Iraq in July 2026: the most important developments in security
Iraq in July 2026 was drawn into the wider war between the United States and Iran, and the month ended with joint US and Saudi airstrikes on Iran-backed groups inside the country. On July 27 Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed drones launched by such groups from Iraq. On July 28 the United States and Saudi Arabia struck the groups' positions, and the US military confirmed the strikes on July 29. The Iraqi prime minister called an emergency security meeting after the strikes, which killed 20 members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces. Iraqi militias rejected the Saudi claim that the drones came from Iraqi soil, and reports said Iran-backed Iraqi militias were likely behind drones intercepted near Israel.
Earlier in the month, violence reached other parts of the country. Iran reported US strikes on a border area near Iraq and Kuwait on July 14, and two people were killed in a US rocket strike near an Iran-Iraq border crossing on July 23. A drone struck a ship off Basra on July 16, briefly suspending oil loadings, and Iraq condemned a drone attack in Erbil that day. Explosions were reported near Erbil airport on July 24. On July 17 an Iran-backed Iraqi militia put a $10 million bounty on President Trump, and four explosions were heard in Sulaymaniyah.
In the north, Iranian forces killed four members of the Kurdish opposition group PJAK near the border and stepped up drone attacks on Kurdish groups, and an opposition group said strikes killed nine Iranian Kurdish rebels in Iraq. Germany's military closed its field camp in Erbil on July 10, and an expert warned that the Islamic State group was waiting to exploit the US exit from Iraq. Syria said it had foiled an attempt to smuggle advanced weapons from Iraq to Hezbollah.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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