Why Iran targeted Barzani family stronghold in Iraqi Kurdistan
Iran’s Kurdish opposition groups have turned Iraqi Kurdistan into a frontline in the war.
The prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq accused Iran on Monday of firing drones at his personal office and the home of the head of the KRG’s security and intelligence agency, marking a dramatic escalation in the Islamic Republic’s relentless targeting of Iraq since the Iran conflict began.
What happened? Masrour Barzani called the attacks, which were found to have been launched from Iranian territory, “reckless” and “unacceptable.” He called the “dangerous escalation,” in a statement posted on the X platform, a “direct threat to the security and stability of the Kurdistan Region.”
The Directorate General of Counter Terrorism said in a statement that two explosive Hadid 110 drones had been launched from the Iranian side of the border. It remains unclear what the identification process involved, but the Hadid drones are among the most advanced in Iran’s arsenal, “which is significant in and of itself,” Ramzy Mardini, founder of Geopol Labs, a risk advisory firm based in the Middle East, told Al-Monitor.
“Given its high speed, low-altitude flight profile, and advanced stealth configuration and composition, these drones are specifically engineered to penetrate heavily fortified air defenses and strike high-value, well-protected targets,” Mardini said.
