ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kuwait has reportedly shut its main official border crossing with Iraq after it was struck by a drone, Iraqi state media reported Thursday, adding that the closure is temporary.
"A senior source said the al-Abdali border crossing with Iraq was temporarily closed following an attack," Iraq's state-run news agency (INA) reported.
“Iraq received a notification from the Kuwaiti side that the crossing had been shut after being hit by a drone,” the source added, according to INA.
The development comes as Iran and the United States have since July 8 returned to strikes and counterstrikes in the region weeks after they signed the mid-June Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, which halted military operations on all fronts.
While the source of Thursday's attack on the Abdali border crossing remains unclear, Kuwait has been targeted by at least 23 designated waves of strikes from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) against alleged US assets in the sheikhdom since the latest round of escalation began.
Kuwaiti air defense reports indicate the offensive has involved dozens of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and multi-drone suicide swarms, specifically targeting US military installations - including the Ali Al Salem Air Base, Camp Arifjan, Camp Udairi, Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base, and Camp Doha.
The strikes have also affected Kuwait's Shuaiba power and water desalination plant, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) oil facilities, telecommunications towers, and areas surrounding Kuwait International Airport.
Notably, at least two drones crashed in mid-July near Iraqi southern ports along the Kuwaiti border, coinciding with the surge in Iranian attacks on the sheikhdom.
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