ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Nearly half of the drone and missile attacks launched on the Kurdistan Region since the start of the Middle East war over a month ago have been carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said late Monday.
“During the 30 days of the war, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) carried out 179 attacks, while affiliated militia groups operating inside Iraq and funded by the Iraqi government launched 295 attacks against the Kurdistan Region,” the KDP’s Foreign Relations office said in a post on X.
The KDP said Erbil province bore the brunt of the strikes with 370 attacks, followed by Sulaimani with 90, Duhok with 11, and Halabja with three.
“The attacks employed a range of weapons and tactics: suicide drones/UAVs - 359 incidents (75.74%), missiles - 104 incidents (21.94%), artillery shelling - 10 incidents (2.11%), and small-arms fire - 1 incident (0.21%),” the statement detailed.
The report also said that around 228 of the attacks - representing "60.76% of all drone and missile threats - were intercepted, neutralized, or failed to reach their intended targets."
Latest figures published by the human rights organization Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) show that 14 people were killed and 93 others injured between February 28 and Monday due to the war and related attacks.
The US and Israel launched a coordinated military campaign against Iran on February 28, with the US Central Command (CENTCOM) reporting on Saturday that more than 11,000 targets have been struck across Iran so far.
In response, Tehran has carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets in the region - particularly in Gulf Arab states - as well as launching retaliatory attacks against Israel.
Iran’s response has also involved Iraqi armed groups aligned with the Tehran-led “Axis of Resistance,” with several factions claiming responsibility for attacks on purported US targets in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The latest incident included a drone attack targeting the Duhok residence of Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani.
In a sharply worded statement, KDP leader Masoud Barzani said that while the Kurdistan Region “has never been part” of regional conflicts, there are “some groups” that “unjustly and repeatedly attack the Region and its Peshmerga forces,” posing a threat to the lives and stability of its people.
“They have attacked our headquarters five times, yet we have remained silent to prevent fear and anger among the public,” the Kurdish leader added, while strongly condemning the latest drone strike targeting President Nechirvan Barzani’s residence in Duhok.