Coalition forces down a one-way drone in Erbil

11-01-2024
Karwan Faidhi Dri
Karwan Faidhi Dri @KarwanFaidhiDri
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suicide drone was downed by the global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) at the Erbil International Airport late Thursday, according to Kurdish counterterrorism forces. 

The Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD) said in a Facebook post on Thursday that “a weaponized drone was directed by the outlaw militias at the anti-ISIS coalition military base at the Erbil International Airport at 6:50 pm. It was downed.”

No casualties or material loss were reported. 

The US-led global coalition often does not comment on such attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups backed by Iran and affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has claimed most of similar attacks against US interests in Iraq, Kurdistan Region and Syria since mid-October. 

Iran-aligned militias have struck bases of the coalition in Iraq and Syria with rockets and drones over 100 times since mid-October, in retaliation to Washington’s support for Israel in its war against the Gaza Strip.

US forces have responded with several retaliatory strikes, targeting militia groups they blame for the attacks. The Iraqi government has strongly condemned American retaliatory attacks.

The coalition forces downed another explosive-laden drone at the Erbil airport late Wednesday. 

Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against ISIS, which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed late Thursday that it hit a US military base in Shadadi, Syria. 

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