A responsible government source confirmed yesterday that Baghdad “received a serious and direct American warning” about violating the air embargo imposed on Iran, noting that Iraq had requested that “Najaf Airport” be exempted from this embargo “for humanitarian reasons.”
The source said, “The American side made clear that the punitive measures will not be limited to Iranian airline companies only, but may also affect any entity or airport that provides services to these companies or facilitates the operation of their flights.” He added, “This warning placed the government with one option, which is to avoid exposing Iraqi airports, the aviation sector, and the entities operating in it to sanctions.”
In addition, as the federal government in Baghdad prepares to celebrate next Wednesday, what it describes as “Sovereignty Day,” which marks the withdrawal of the “International Coalition” forces, the majority of Kurdish leaders express strong fears of this withdrawal.
The head of the regional government, Masrour Barzani, said in a statement from his office, “Leaving the Kurdistan region exposed without providing any defensive systems to protect it is a matter of concern.”
Testimonies from market traders in the Gaza Strip, as well as members of Hamas, showed that there is a crisis among the movement’s members in disbursing their salaries in cash, with many merchants resorting to reducing their acceptance of currencies and relying on applications and electronic wallets.
This coincided with Israel's intensification of targeting and assassinating Hamas financial officials over the past weeks, and it turned out that among them were some of those responsible for transferring salaries to members of the movement.
According to Hamas employees, the majority of them, whether from the government sector or the military arm (Al-Qassam Brigades), receive their salaries in cash.
It is noteworthy that during the height of the war, Gazans struggled to transfer their money from electronic form to cash.
Last August, Israel canceled dealing in a certain denomination of shekel notes. In a move to strangle Hamas economically. The Hamas police force issued a circular warning shop owners and others not to deal in cash.
On Sunday, the Syrian authorities announced the dismantling of a cell affiliated with the terrorist organization ISIS, which was involved in kidnappings, planting explosive devices and assassinations, and whose activity extended from Raqqa to Aleppo, Idlib and Homs.
The Internal Security Forces stated that a series of security operations resulted in the arrest of four of the cell leaders in Raqqa, along with a number of its members in Aleppo, Idlib and Homs, after tracking their activities and movements, in addition to seizing explosive materials that were prepared to carry out attacks.
She explained that preliminary investigations revealed the involvement of cell members in 5 kidnapping operations, in addition to planning to carry out other attacks, noting that investigations are continuing in preparation for referring the detainees to the competent judiciary.
On August 18, the Internal Security Forces and the General Intelligence Service announced the arrest of Hamza Abdullah Muhammad, nicknamed “Abu Jihad al-Muhajir,” in the Manbij countryside in Aleppo Governorate, and described him as one of the prominent military leaders in ISIS.
