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Iraq has recorded its highest daily covid-19 case count since the beginning of the pandemic, as the spread of the Delta variant and widespread vaccine hesitancy plunge the country into a third wave of infections. There were 9,189 new cases recorded on Thursday, according to Ministry of Health figures, building on case numbers that have been rising since mid-May, as social distancing and mask-wearing are largely ignored. There were 31 more deaths, taking the overall toll to 17,444 since the beginning of the pandemic. Health officials worry the worst is yet to come. “People are refusing the vaccine," said a doctor working at a Baghdad hospital that treats coronavirus patients. "Their ignorance will kill them, and kill us with them.” Read the full story on Iraq Oil Report.

An explosive-laden drone hit Erbil International Airport on the evening of July 6, according to Reuters, citing the Pentagon. Reuters said initial information indicated there had been no structural damage, injuries or casualties. The airport was attacked by drone at 10:30pm, with a fire breaking out at the site, according to Rudaw, citing a statement from the Kurdistan Region’s Counterterrorism Directorate. At the same time, Telegram channels affiliated with Iran-backed armed groups claimed 20 rockets and three drones were used in the attack. The attack comes less than 24 hours after a drone was shot down over the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, and after three rockets hit Ain al-Assad airbase in Anbar. The Erbil airport was last targeted with an explosive drone in mid April. An earlier rocket attack on Erbil, in mid February, killed two peopleand injured 13.

Abu Alaa al-Walae, commander of the Iran-backed paramilitary group Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, says it’s in an “open war” against the U.S. According to the AP, Walae vowed to retaliate against the U.S. for the deaths of four fighters in a June 28 U.S. strike on the Iraq-Syria border. Walae said the men had been on missions to prevent IS from infiltrating Iraq, and denied the presence of illicit weapons warehouses. “We want an operation that befits those martyrs," Walae said. "Even if it comes late, time is not important. We want it to be an operation in which everyone says they have taken revenge from the Americans. It will be a qualitative operation from the air, the sea, along Iraq’s border, in the region, or anywhere. It’s an open war.”

Iraqi paramilitary groups are defying Tehran’s orders. Last month, Iran’s Quds Force carried a message for Iraqi paramilitary faction leaders beholden to Tehran, reports the AP. That message was: maintain calm until after the nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. But Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani was reportedly met with defiance. One faction leader said they couldn’t stay quiet. The result has been a series of rocket and explosive-laden drone attacks directed at U.S. facilities in Iraq. “Three missile attacks in the last week alone resulted in minor injuries, stoking fears of escalation,” writes the AP, concluding that Iraqi militia groups are “asserting a degree of independence, sometimes even flouting orders from Tehran.”

Commentary and Analysis

How can the KRG’s armed forces be reformed? For the Middle East Institute, Mera Jasm Bakr writes that the U.S.-led coalition’s effort to de-politicize the Peshmerga is flawed because its efforts “exclusively address Peshmerga forces and leave out the police and paramilitary units under the MoI and KRSC, or KRIF, even as the role of the interior forces eclipses that of the Peshmerga, both militarily and politically.... Although the MoI and KRSC control slightly less than half of the total number of KRI armed forces, they receive over 62% of the region’s security budget. As the KDP’s and PUK’s elite 'enforcement arms,' their loyalty to the political bureaus is also stronger than that of the Peshmerga and they are heavily involved in the region’s day-to-day security and administrative affairs.”

Why is Basra governance in crisis? For the LSE’s Middle East Centre, Omar al-Jaffal and Safaa Khalaf write about the crisis of local governance in Basra. The research is particularly pertinent at a time when power failures are leading to larger protests and confrontations between protesters and police. As well as examining the relationship between Basra governorate and the central government, the research also “addresses the reasons behind the failure of Basra’s local government in providing services to its citizens and analyses the impact of this failure on the growing distrust between the population and the authorities.”

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