Drone attack targets US troops in Erbil

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Islamic Resistance in Iraq on Wednesday claimed it carried out a drone attack against US troops based near Erbil International Airport.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said it targeted US troops near the airport with drones.

A security source told Rudaw that the drone did not reach its target, falling in a nearby village. 

The Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD) said in a post on Facebook that the coalition forces intercepted a drone in Ashokan village, near the airport “without causing any casualties or material damage.

Iran-aligned militia groups have targeted US interests in Iraq and Syria with rockets and drones around 100 times since October 17, in response to the American support for Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Baghdad has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to protecting diplomatic missions in Iraq and vowed to pursue the perpetrators of the attacks against American interests, but has also warned Washington against taking any military action in the country without its approval.

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 the Islamic State (ISIS), which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared territorially defeated in 2019.

The Iraqi federal government on Tuesday condemned the retaliatory airstrikes carried out by United States forces against pro-Iran militia groups in the country earlier in the day, saying that the attacks targeted Iraqi military bases, killing one and injuring 18 others.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces carried out airstrikes against multiple locations of Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq in the early hours of Tuesday. The strikes were in retaliation to the group’s attack on forces of the US-led coalition against ISIS based at the Erbil International Airport the day before, which left three US service members wounded, with one in critical condition.