Coalition shoots down 10 drones over Erbil as US-Iran fighting resumes

ERBIL — Coalition forces intercepted and shot down 10 bomb-laden drones over Erbil governorate between 1:13 a.m. and 3:31 a.m. on Wednesday, the Kurdistan Region’s Directorate General of Counter-Terrorism said. No casualties were reported.

The coalition that brought them down is due to leave Iraq on Sept. 30, 28 days from now. The prime minister’s security adviser Qasim al-Araji said on Tuesday that the last American soldier would go by the end of the month with no extension.

Direct hostilities between the United States and Iran resumed on Aug. 30 after weeks without exchanges. U.S. forces struck Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, with Central Command saying Iranian forces posed an imminent threat to commercial shipping, and Iran answered with missiles and drones at bases hosting U.S. forces in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Fighting continued through Tuesday and into Wednesday, with further American strikes on Iranian military targets and further Iranian attacks on U.S. forces and targets in the Gulf and neighbouring countries.

The Kurdistan Region has been hit repeatedly this year at security and energy sites, diplomatic facilities, civilian areas and camps of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups. Two explosive drones struck the private office of Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the home of the head of the Parastin intelligence agency in Pirmam district in mid-August, with Barzani blaming Iran directly. Community Peacemaker Teams–Iraqi Kurdistan documented 751 attacks across the Region between late February and late May before the June ceasefire, attributing them to Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups, with 22 people killed and 112 wounded.