Peregraf — A wave of drone and missile strikes across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq over the past two weeks has killed seven combatants and security personnel and wounded more than 15, as the ongoing U.S.-Israel war against Iran increasingly reverberates across northern Iraq.
According to follow-up reporting by the Peregraf Media Foundation, more than 300 drones and missiles have struck various locations across the region during the first two weeks of the war. Many of the attacks have been attributed either to Iran or to armed factions affiliated with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of Iran-aligned armed groups operating inside Iraq.
Among the seven killed were fighters from Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, a member of the Asayish and a French soldier stationed in the region.
On March 13, Iqbal Salihi, from Saqqez, and Fakhredin Muradi, from Sanandaj — both peshmerga fighters of the Khabat Organisation of Iranian Kurdistan — were killed in a drone strike on positions in the Bashik highlands in Erbil Province.
A day earlier, Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion, a French soldier deployed to Iraq, was killed when drones targeted a joint Peshmerga–French base in the Makhmur area of Erbil Province.
In Sulaymaniyah Province, Omid Weisi, known by his field name Omid Rwanser, a peshmerga fighter of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, was killed in drone and missile strikes on the village of Zirgwezala on March 11.
Another strike in the same village on March 7 killed Ismail Rahimi, known by his field name Hawri Ziyadri, a member of the Komala — Revolutionary Organisation of Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan.
Also on March 7, Wlat Tahir, a member of the Asayish, the Kurdistan Region's intelligence and security service, stationed at Erbil International Airport, was killed after a wave of drone attacks struck the city.
Earlier in the war, on March 4, Jalal Rashidi, a peshmerga fighter with the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), was killed in a missile strike on party bases near Degala, southeast of Erbil.
More than 15 others were wounded, including members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, security personnel from the Kurdistan Regional Government and civilians. French soldiers stationed in the region were also among the injured.
The intensifying attacks coincide with the ongoing U.S.-Israel war against Iran, now in its 15th day, raising fears that the Kurdistan Region may be drawn further into a widening conflict.