Early on Monday morning a drone attack occurred in the Khabat district in the province of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The drone attacks began on June 24, when the Israel-Iran conflict ended, targeting radars in central Iraq, and have increased since then, spreading to northern Iraq in early July. Most drone attacks since July 1 have targeted energy sites, such as oil fields.
The latest attack likely targeted an oil refinery. Rudaw media in Iraq said that “The Khabat district is the site of the Kawergosk oil refinery, one of the largest in the Kurdistan Region, operated by the Iraqi-Kurdish oil company KAR Group.”
The US and UK have warned Iraq about the need to find the culprits behind the attacks. Iraq has pretended that it is looking for them, but the country’s leadership does not seem serious.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani did, however, recently welcome the new US commander of the anti-ISIS coalition. It was believed that Sudani might decide to rein in the drone attacks.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has accused the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) of being behind the attacks. The attacks had occurred almost every day between July 1 and 15 and then appeared to decline, but the attack on July 28 shows that the threat has returned.
Iraq is not listening to the US, and the Iranians are provoking trouble, it would seem.
Rudaw media in Erbil said that “an explosive-laden drone crashed in Erbil’s western Khabat district on Monday morning, resulting in no casualties, Kurdish counterterrorism forces reported.”
The report noted that “on Monday morning at 5.50 a.m. an explosive-laden drone crashed in the Rizgari subdistrict of Khabat district in Erbil province,” the Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD), also known as Kurdistan CT, said.
There have been 20 rocket and drone attacks in the last month, the report noted.
“The drone strikes have greatly reduced the Kurdistan Region’s oil output, especially at a time when Kurdish oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline – halted since March 2023 – are on the brink of resumption,” Rudaw noted.
Armed attack at an Iraqi agriculture ministry office
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, an Iraqi officer was wounded during an armed attack at an Iraqi agriculture ministry office in Baghdad.
“More than a dozen suspects linked to the Iran-aligned Popular Mobilization Forces have been arrested in connection with the attack,” Rudaw noted.
It appears the PMF is completely out of control and trying to send a message to Baghdad. Security forces were able to arrest 14 suspects from the PMF’s brigades 45 and 46, an Iraqi official said.
“Brigades 45 and 46 are affiliated with the Kata’ib Hezbollah – a powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
“Washington holds Kata’ib Hezbollah, a key player in the Iran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ responsible for numerous attacks on US assets in the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October 2023,” Rudaw noted.
Kata’ib Hezbollah kidnapped Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov in Baghdad in March 2023. She continues to be held by the group. The US has sought to have her freed but has not succeeded.
The group also killed three Americans in Jordan in a drone attack in January 2024. In January 2020, US President Donald Trump ordered a drone attack that killed IRGC Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani and the head of Kata’ib Hezbollah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in Baghdad.
“This is not the first time Kata’ib Hezbollah has been linked to clashes with Iraqi state forces. Previous incidents include a firefight with federal police in Baghdad in May 2023 and a confrontation with the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service at Camp Speicher in March 2023,” Rudaw noted.