Five drones targeted the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Erbil at dawn on Friday, with US-led coalition air defences shooting down three of them, Kurdish security authorities said, in the latest in a series of attacks to hit the autonomous Kurdistan Region in recent weeks.
One of the drones fell near the Rotana Hotel in central Erbil after the interceptions, prompting panic among residents and scattering shrapnel across the populated area.
The Kurdistan Region’s Counter-Terrorism Service said there were no casualties in the attack.
The incident came a day after another drone struck a house in a residential neighbourhood of Erbil, underscoring mounting fears among civilians over the repeated attacks and the risks posed by falling debris after aerial interceptions.
Authorities have not publicly identified who launched Friday’s drones. However, a senior official in Erbil told The New Arab that the attacks appear to involve multiple actors operating from both inside Iraq and across the border in Iran.
The official said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was targeting positions held by Iranian Kurdish opposition forces in the outskirts of Erbil, while Iraqi armed factions loyal to Tehran were launching attacks on sites in the region from the Nineveh Plain.
"The danger is not only related to the fall and explosion of the drones, but also to the fragments that are scattered with each attack over long distances, especially after the drones are intercepted by air defences," the official said.
"Residents live under constant security pressure. The sounds of planes and explosions, and their interceptions, have become part of the daily scene in the city."
Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region has experienced a growing number of drone, rocket and other attacks over recent weeks, affecting both Erbil and Sulaimaniyah provinces. The escalation has coincided with the US-Israel war with Iran and has continued despite no recent direct strikes between the three countries.
On 17 July, a deadly barrage of drones and rockets killed nine members of an Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group. The group blamed Tehran for the strikes, while Iran has long accused Iranian Kurdish opposition groups of acting in the interests of Western states and Israel.
The Kurdistan Region has repeatedly been exposed to attacks due to its sensitive geopolitical position. It hosts US troops, foreign oil companies and several Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, making it a focal point in the wider confrontation between Iran, its allied Iraqi factions, Washington and Israel.
Kurdish officials have previously said that some attacks were launched from Iranian territory, while others originated from within Iraqi soil.
Majid Balak, a member of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party, blamed the federal government in Baghdad for failing to halt the attacks.
"Protecting the airspace from internal and external attacks, and preventing the use of Iraqi territory to carry out attacks on security and facilities inside and outside the country, is the responsibility of the Iraqi government," Balak told The New Arab.
The continued strikes have raised concern that Erbil’s civilian areas could face greater danger even when air defences prevent drones from reaching their intended targets, as wreckage and explosive fragments fall into densely inhabited parts of the city.
Iran-backed militia warns Baghdad
Meanwhile, the head of the Iran-backed Badr group warned Baghdad against using force to disarm armed factions, arguing that a coercive campaign could "ignite civil war" as the government moves towards a looming 30 September deadline to bring all militias’ weapons under state control.
Mohammad Naji, head of the organisation’s political office, said in a statement posted on X that the use of force against armed groups in the country would deepen internal divisions and serve the interests of foreign powers, including the United States and Israel.
He conditioned a disarmament of weapons to three conditions: a complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, the removal of “strategic threats” and the full rebuilding of Iraq’s armed forces.
Naji also criticised Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, accusing him of succumbing to pressure from Washington. Al-Zaidi had ordered officials to prepare a draft mechanism for the disarmament of Iraqi armed factions, arguing it undermines the authority of security institutions.