ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq’s border authority seized on Tuesday a 40-foot container carrying drones with surveillance cameras illegally brought in through Basra’s Umm Qasr port. "The shipment violates the border controls regulations, and it was seized based on information from Iraqi National Security Agency indicating the drones were intended for smuggling," according to an official statement from the Iraqi Border Crossing authority. Rudaw English contacted the body’s media director, Alaa Al Qaissi, on Tuesday for further information on the intended use of the drones. "I cannot give any further information about this matter," said Al Qaissi. The case was referred to the judiciary, and no arrests related to the illegal equipment have yet been announced. Drones have become widely used in conflict zones, often those in the Middle East. The US military has notably used them in the operation that killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi). "We forbid any plane from flying in Iraqi airspace unless it coordinates with the Joint Operations Command and receives its approval," Spokesman for the Joint Operations Command in Iraq Tahseen al-Khafaji told Al-Monitor in August. Since 2018, Turkey and Iran have started using drones in Iraq for missions targeting armed groups, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region.
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