Armed drones attacked Erbil international airport situated near the US consulate in the northern Iraq city, Kurdish security forces said Saturday (September 11), the latest in a series of similar incidents over the past year.
Attacks of this kind, normally targeting US troops or US interests in Iraq, have become common in recent months.
A few weeks earlier, three drones targeted the airport in Baghdad, where US troops are also deployed.
Although typically no one claims responsibility for them, Washington blames Iraq-based militia groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The latest attack came amid reports that the IRGC has set up a new training base in Iraq for members of its regional proxies, with drills focused on launching drone attacks.
Iraqi political analyst Hilal al-Obeidi said last week that Iran has set up a new training camp in Iraq’s Karbala desert for its Iraqi and Syrian militias.
“The IRGC Quds Force, with help from the Lebanese Hizbullah, supervises the camp and provides recruits with courses on drone tactics,” he said.
The establishment of the training camp “comes as part of Iran’s relentless endeavor to produce a generation of experts with experience in launching explosives-laden drones”, he said.
In response to the increasing threat from drones, the United States announced last week it will launch a new task force incorporating airborne, sailing, and underwater drones following maritime attacks blamed on Iran.
On September 12 an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader declared Iraq must disarm Iranian Kurd “terrorists” and expel them from the Kurdistan region.
Iran’s IRGC has been continuously firing artillery shells at Kurdish opposition groups based along the border in recent days.
Source » iranbriefing