File image.
A series of Iranian strikes targeted Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region late on July 17, following a similar attack earlier in the morning.
The strikes targeted the town of Tasluja, north of Jalal Talabani International Airport in the province of Sulaymaniyah, according to Rudaw, which also reported several explosions over the region’s capital, Erbil. A security source told the news network that the Peshmerga 70th unit’s arsenal was targeted in the strikes.
Similar strikes targeted the same town earlier in the day, hitting the Iranian Kurdish opposition armed group Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, killing nine of its members and wounding several others.
Also earlier in the day, the Kurdistan Region Security Agency confirmed that “a total of seven missiles” were fired — four at Zirgwez, one at Qasdri, and two near Grdi Kopani village in Sulaymaniyah.
“A detailed investigation by our teams is ongoing to determine the human and material damages caused by the attacks,” the Agency added.
In addition to the strikes that targeted Sulaymaniyah, several drones were intercepted over Erbil in the early hours of the day.
The region’s Counter-Terrorism Directorate confirmed that “between 4:19 and 5:25 am [local time], [US-led] Coalition forces intercepted and shot down eight bomb-laden drones in the skies over Erbil,” adding that the incidents left no casualties.
Iran began targeting Kurdish opposition parties based in Kurdistan soon after the start of the American-Israeli war last February. The attacks continued even after a ceasefire was announced in June.
Several of these groups, including Komala, had received arms and money from both the United States and Israel prior to the start of the war as part of an ill-fated plot to launch a ground offensive from Kurdistan into Iraq.
U.S. President Donald Trump ultimately vetoed the plot, reportedly at the request of Turkey, leaving these parties largely abandoned to face Iran alone.
The latest Iranian strikes against these groups come amid a limited confrontation with the U.S. that has brought the memorandum of understanding to end the war — signed last month — to the brink of collapse. The Islamic Republic clearly still views the presence of these groups in Iraq’s Kurdistan as a major threat.
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iran is not playing games.
more importantly all ukrainian cites will undergo the berlin 1945 model of destruction…hehehehe