ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suicide drone targeting a base housing the United States-led coalition at Erbil airport, was shot down on Sunday, Kurdish counterterrorism forces announced. No casualties were reported.
The drone was “destroyed and shot down” at 4:54 pm, said the Erbil-based Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD), also known as Kurdistan CT.
This was the second attack in less than 24 hours inside the Kurdistan Region. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Sunday announced that two suicide drones targeted a Peshmerga base in Erbil province’s Pirmam the night before.
Saturday’s attack did not leave casualties, according to a statement from government spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups backed by Iran and affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Sunday afternoon that it targeted a US-base near Erbil’s airport with drones and vowed to continue attacks on the coalition forces.
The militia group has carried out dozens of drone and missile attacks on US forces based in Syria and Iraq in response to American support for Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesman for Iraq's Joint Operation Command, told Rudaw on Sunday that, "Commander-in-Chief [Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani] and the Armed Forces are determined to prevent events like these that bring no benefit and only result in taking our people backwards, making Iraq one of the countries that cannot attract investment."
The US says the attacks have been “largely unsuccessful,” but has carried out several retaliatory precision airstrikes against Iran-linked facilities or groups in Syria and Iraq since the attacks began in October.
“While we do not seek to escalate conflict in the region, we are committed and fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement after an attack on Tuesday.
Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against ISIS, which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared territorially defeated in 2019.