3 November 2026
The Shamash Jewish Museum opened in the previous month in central Baghdad, in a building that once housed the Shamash Jewish School, and visitors have begun coming to it. The school was started by Yaqub Shlomo Shamash and dates from 1928, and it stands on al-Rashid street. The museum is run by the committee of Iraqi Jews, whose lawyer Ammar al-Tamimi says it is the only museum in Iraq belonging to the Jewish community. Displays honour figures such as Sassoon Eskell, the first finance minister of Iraq, and the physician Dhafer Fouad Eliyahu. The community numbered more than 130,000 people in the 1940s and only a few dozen Jewish residents remain, with fewer than 50 synagogues and Jewish sites left. The school property was taken by the state in the 1970s and returned to the community by a court ruling in 1992.
Museum:
Shamash Jewish Museum
School founded:
1928
Location:
al-Rashid street
Community in the 1940s:
more than 130,000
Sites left:
fewer than 50
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the name Shamash Jewish Museum, the Shamash Jewish School it occupies on al-Rashid street in Baghdad, and Sassoon Eskell as the first finance minister of Iraq.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Farhud Farhud of 1941 — The attack on the Jewish community of Baghdad in which over 100 Iraqi Jews were killed.
1 November 2026
Iraq is one of the seven OPEC+ countries that met online and agreed to hold their oil output steady for December 2026. The group, which earlier announced additional voluntary adjustments, is made up of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman. They decided to maintain September 2026 required production for December 2026, with the country by country numbers set out in a table attached to the statement. The seven also repeated their collective commitment to achieve full conformity with the Declaration of Cooperation, the pact that binds OPEC members and the non-OPEC producers who work with them. They said the monthly review meetings would continue, and fixed the next meeting for 29 November 2026. For Iraq, which is the second largest crude producer inside OPEC, the quota matters because oil revenue pays for most of the federal budget.
Countries in the group:
seven OPEC+ countries
Named first three:
Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq
Framework:
Declaration of Cooperation
Output held at:
September 2026 required production
Next meeting:
29 November 2026
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the seven OPEC+ countries named with Iraq, the Declaration of Cooperation as the framework of OPEC+, and Iraq as a founder member and the second largest crude producer in OPEC.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
OPEC+ OPEC and cooperating non-OPEC oil producers — OPEC members plus producers such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Oman who coordinate output with them.
28 October 2026
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi arrived in Damascus to meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. It was the first time the head of an Iraqi government had gone to Syria since Bashar al-Assad was removed. He said the Iraqi and Syrian people are one people in two countries, and sought a deeper partnership between the two neighbours. Oil and trade were the business of the talks. The two leaders took up the export of Iraqi oil through the Baniyas line, a larger volume of trade and joint work on farming. Earlier in the year the two countries signed agreements to revive the Haditha Baniyas pipeline, along with a memorandum of understanding with a consortium of three companies, most notably Chevron, to carry out the project. The Iraqi News Agency, or INA, carried the account of the visit. The two had met earlier in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Visiting leader:
Ali al-Zaidi
Host:
Ahmed al-Sharaa
Pipeline discussed:
Haditha Baniyas pipeline
Company in the consortium:
Chevron
News agency:
Iraqi News Agency
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are Ahmed al-Sharaa as President of Syria, Ali al-Zaidi as Prime Minister of Iraq, and the Haditha Baniyas pipeline as the route that would take Iraqi crude to the Mediterranean through Syria.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
INA Official Iraqi News Agency — The state news agency of Iraq.
26 October 2026
Iraq has prepared the biggest federal budget in its history even as the economy struggles with a cash squeeze. Total public expenditure is projected at about 217.2 trillion dinars, which the paper puts at 143.6 billion US dollars, leaving a gap of about 43 trillion dinars. The draft could be built around an oil price assumption of 58 dollars per barrel. Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi heads the government that prepared it, and the draft must still clear the cabinet and parliament. Crude sales handled by the State Organisation for Marketing of Oil, usually called Somo, supply most of the revenue, and payments to the Kurdistan Regional Government remain part of the arithmetic. The Iraqi Central Bank had devalued the dinar earlier in the same month, and talks with the International Monetary Fund were being pushed forward.
Total expenditure:
217.2 trillion dinars
Gap:
43 trillion dinars
Oil price assumption:
$58 per barrel
Prime Minister:
Ali Al Zaidi
Oil selling body:
State Organisation for Marketing of Oil
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the size of the draft budget at about 217.2 trillion dinars, the oil price assumption of 58 dollars per barrel, and Somo as the State Organisation for Marketing of Oil that sells Iraqi crude.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
Somo State Organisation for Marketing of Oil — The state company that sells Iraqi crude abroad.
17 October 2026
Iraq hosted in its capital the 52nd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, the ministerial body of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation. The meeting came to the Iraqi capital for the first time in 45 years. The two day talks ran under the theme Dialogue and Solidarity. Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi opened the session and announced an Iraqi proposal to link the energy grids, railways, transport and digital communications of member states, together with a digital payment system and shared trade platforms. The agenda covered the attacks on Gaza, the strikes on Saudi Arabia and crisis zones across the Islamic world, and an OIC mediation unit was discussed. Secretary General Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed spoke on attacks on Saudi Arabia. Foreign ministers present included Abbas Araghchi of Iran, Hakan Fidan of Turkey, Badr Abdelatty of Egypt and Prince Faisal bin Farhan of Saudi Arabia.
Session:
52nd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers
Host city:
Baghdad
Gap since last time:
for the first time in 45 years
Secretary General:
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed
Theme:
Dialogue and Solidarity
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are Baghdad as host of the 52nd session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed as OIC Secretary General, and the theme Dialogue and Solidarity.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
OIC Organisation of Islamic Co-operation — A grouping of 57 member states, with its secretariat in Jeddah.
16 October 2026
The Iraqi parliament voted through 11 key positions at a full session, completing the government five months after Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi took office. Nayef Al Shammari was approved as Defence Minister and Yasir Al Maliki, a son in law of former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki, as Interior Minister. Three deputy prime ministers were cleared, among them Mohammed Ali Tamim of the Sunni Taqadum Party and Muhsin Al Mandalawi, who leads the Asas Coalition. A third deputy prime minister is Laith Al Khazali, brother of Qais Al Khazali, who leads Asaib Ahl Al Haq, a movement the US designated a foreign terrorist organisation. The vote on the nominee for migration and displacement was put off. Iraq lost nearly a third of its territory to ISIS during the earlier Nouri Al Maliki years.
Posts approved:
11 key positions
Defence Minister:
Nayef Al Shammari
Interior Minister:
Yasir Al Maliki
Prime Minister:
Ali Al Zaidi
Deputy Prime Minister:
Mohammed Ali Tamim
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are Nayef Al Shammari as Defence Minister of Iraq, Yasir Al Maliki as Interior Minister, and Ali Al Zaidi as the Prime Minister whose cabinet was completed by this vote.
Kerala PSCUPSC
7 October 2026
The Iraqi cabinet approved a weaker official exchange rate for the dinar, and from the next day banks and exchange companies began selling dollars to the public at 1,520 dinars, two hundred more than the earlier rate of 1,320. Officials presented the step as a response to the strain on the budget after the oil trade was disrupted, since more than 90 percent of the federal budget is paid from oil revenues. Foreign currency reserves at the Central Bank of Iraq, or CBI, had fallen from about 106 billion dollars before the war to roughly 80 billion dollars. Several members of parliament opposed the move, saying living costs would rise and that they were not told how it was taken. Finance Minister Falih al-Sari and the CBI governor were summoned to explain it to parliament. Iraq last moved its official rate in a similar way years earlier, from about 1,182 to 1,450 per dollar.
New public rate:
1,520 dinars
Earlier public rate:
1,320
Finance Minister:
Falih al-Sari
Oil share of budget:
more than 90 percent
Central bank:
Central Bank of Iraq
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the Central Bank of Iraq as the body that sets the official dinar rate, the new public rate of 1,520 dinars against the dollar, and oil revenues paying more than 90 percent of the federal budget.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
CBI Central Bank of Iraq — The central bank that sets the official exchange rate of the dinar.
30 September 2026
The Pentagon has announced that the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq is complete. Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell made the announcement, closing the mission that ran under the name Operation Inherent Resolve, the campaign the US led coalition fought against ISIL. The last to go made an orderly departure from the Erbil Airbase in the Kurdistan Region, where 1,500 troops from the US and coalition forces had been based. United States personnel in Iraq had peaked at about 170,000 in 2007, four years after the invasion mounted as Operation Iraqi Freedom. Security now rests with the Iraqi Security Forces and, in the north, the Peshmerga, with CENTCOM keeping an outside role. Hundreds of US troops are still stationed in Syria, and the task force for the anti-ISIL effort has moved to Jordan. The plan for the final pull out had been agreed with the government of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, and a deadline in June 2027 stands for the disarmament of armed groups.
Mission closed:
Operation Inherent Resolve
Pentagon spokesman:
Sean Parnell
Last base vacated:
Erbil Airbase
Peak US personnel:
170,000
Kurdish force:
Peshmerga
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are Operation Inherent Resolve as the name of the US led coalition mission in Iraq, Erbil Airbase as the last base vacated, and the Iraqi Security Forces and the Peshmerga as the forces that take over.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CENTCOM United States Central Command — The US military command whose area covers Iraq and the wider region.
25 September 2026
Speaking in the General Debate of the 81st session of the General Assembly, the Prime Minister of Iraq, Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi, invited the world to invest with Iraq. He said Iraq wants to be an active economic power in its region and a bridge for dialogue, and that with the mission of the international coalition in Iraq now over, ties with strategic partners move from military cooperation to economic and development cooperation. He set the goal of making the country a global hub for energy production, with export routes diversified and energy lines and corridors built towards Türkiye, Jordan and Syria. He promoted the Development Road, the corridor planned to run from the Grand Faw Port to Europe through Türkiye. He also sought shared management of water resources based on cooperation and international law, and pointed to desertification and water scarcity. He said Iraq has never been on the margins.
Prime Minister:
Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi
Forum:
General Debate
Session:
81st session
Corridor promoted:
Development Road
Port at one end:
Grand Faw Port
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi as Prime Minister of Iraq, the Development Road as the corridor from the Grand Faw Port to Europe through Türkiye, and the General Debate of the 81st session as the forum.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Development Road Development Road project — A planned road and rail corridor from southern Iraq to Europe through Turkiye.
24 September 2026
Turkey has agreed to gradually hand the Bashiqa-Zelikan military camp in northern Iraq over to the Iraqi government, under an agreed mechanism and timetable. The deal was announced after Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York, where both were attending the UN General Assembly. Ankara deployed troops to the Mosul area in 2015, saying they were training local forces against ISIS, and the Iraqi government has treated the presence as a breach of its sovereignty ever since. No timetable for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Bashiqa was announced. Turkish operations in northern Iraq have been directed at the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, whose fighters hold bases in the mountainous Sinjar area. The two leaders also reviewed the Development Road project, the transport corridor that would run from southern Iraq through Turkey.
Camp to be handed over:
Bashiqa-Zelikan military camp
Iraqi Prime Minister:
Ali Al Zaidi
Turkish President:
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Troops deployed since:
2015
Project reviewed:
Development Road project
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the Bashiqa-Zelikan military camp near Mosul as the base Turkey agreed to hand over, Recep Tayyip Erdogan as President of Turkey, and the Development Road project the two leaders reviewed.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
PKK Kurdistan Workers Party — The armed group against which Turkey has run operations in northern Iraq.
Background
Foreign military missions in Iraq wound up in this period, and the political mission of the United Nations in the country had already gone the same way. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, known as UNAMI, concluded its mandate on 31 December after more than two decades of service. It had been established by the Security Council in 2003, when the country was dealing with the effects of decades of dictatorship, regional wars, internal conflict, foreign occupation and terror. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Mohammed Al Hassan, briefed the Council for the last time and called the closure honourable and dignified. He linked the ending to the parliamentary elections held shortly before, which he presented as a fitting close to the work of the mission. The United Nations said its country team and agencies would carry on supporting Iraq after the mission wound up.
Mission:
UN Assistance Mission for Iraq
Short name:
UNAMI
Set up by:
Security Council
Year established:
2003
Final briefer:
Mohammed Al Hassan
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are UNAMI as the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, the Security Council as the organ that set it up in 2003, and Mohammed Al Hassan as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General who closed it.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
SRSG Special Representative of the Secretary-General — The senior United Nations official who heads a political mission in a country.
Background
Iraq held the ministerial meeting of the Islamic grouping in its capital this period, and the bid behind it was lodged at an earlier session of the body. Mr. Mohammad Samir Al Naqshbandi, the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, submitted the request to host the 52nd Ministerial Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers during the 50th session, which was held in Cameroon. He acted on the directive of Mr. Fuad Hussein, who was then Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. The Council welcomed the initiative and it was recorded in the report of that 50th session. Hosting of the 52nd session fell to the Arab group, because the body follows a rotation principle among its regional groups. Iraq last held the meeting in 1981, so the gap was long. The foreign ministry presented the hosting as a way to affirm the place of Iraq in the Islamic world and to support joint Islamic action.
Grouping:
Organization of Islamic Cooperation
Meeting Iraq hosts:
52nd Ministerial Meeting
Bid lodged at:
50th session
Venue of that session:
Cameroon
Last hosted by Iraq:
1981
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the rotation principle among regional groups that decides the host of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, the Arab group as the one whose turn the 52nd session was, and 1981 as the previous time Iraq hosted.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Permanent Representative Permanent Representative to an international body — The envoy a country keeps accredited to an international organisation.