Erbil Air Base housing US Troops hit by suicide drones, igniting fire

Late Thursday evening, a storage facility at the Harir Air Base in Erbil province of Autonomous Kurdistan, housing US troops, was set ablaze following a hit by two suicide drones. The attack was claimed by a pro-Iran militia group, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, heightening regional tensions and sparking international concern.

Footage provided by locals to the Kurdish news network Rudaw revealed a substantial fire at the Harir air base, a base that accommodates the US-led global coalition forces. The fire reportedly originated from the fuel storage facility at the base.

According to an official from Harir's civil defense department, the fire is expanding. Despite the department's readiness to respond, they await authorization to control the fire.

The Kurdistan Region's counterterrorism unit confirmed the attack was executed with a suicide drone, resulting in the fire. However, they reported that the coalition forces had vacated the base since October 20.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an organization with pro-Iran affiliations, took responsibility for the assault, stating it utilized suicide drones. The group has claimed numerous similar attacks on US troops in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, and Syria over the past month, attributing these attacks to US support for Israel in its conflict with Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

On October 26, the Pentagon detailed a total of 56 attacks on US personnel in Iraq and Syria between October 17-20, resulting in 45 injuries. All of these attacks occurred before US retaliatory strikes on facilities associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria.

This strike took place just hours after Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani arrived in Erbil, meeting with Kurdish officials. The President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, has called these attacks "extremely dangerous" for Iraq and the region, urging Prime Minister Sudani to take action against the perpetrators.

*Photo: Rudaw