{"id":251446,"date":"2026-08-16T14:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/251446\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T14:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T14:15:09","slug":"kurdistan-region-attacks-expose-iraqs-struggle-to-control-iran-backed-militias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/251446\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurdistan Region attacks expose Iraq\u2019s struggle to control Iran-backed militias"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 14, three drones were intercepted over Erbil<\/a>, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. The Kurdistan Region has been targeted by more than 1,000 drones and missiles launched by Iran and Iranian-backed proxies since February. Iraq has vowed that it will rein in Iranian-backed militias in Baghdad. However, the continued attacks illustrate that Baghdad has not been able to stop all the attacks.<\/p>\n

The drone attack on August 14 was intercepted by \u201cUS-led Global Coalition forces<\/a>,\u201d Rudaw media in Erbil said. \u201cIn the early hours of this morning, Friday, August 14, 2026, between 2:17 am and 2:25 am [local time], Coalition forces intercepted and shot down three bomb-laden drones in the skies over Erbil,\u201d the Erbil-based Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD) said in a statement. \u201cFortunately, there were no casualties,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n

The report noted that Iran had also targeted an area in the Alana valley with missiles and drones<\/a> last week. The attacks targeted the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and Komala, which are two Kurdish Iranian opposition groups. \u201cAccording to Rudaw tracking, the Kurdistan Region has recorded more than 950 drone and missile attacks launched by Iran and allied armed groups in Iraq since the outbreak of the six-week war in late February, killing 32 people and wounding 154 others as of early August,\u201d Rudaw noted.<\/p>\n

After the latest attack<\/a> on August 14, an Iranian-backed militia denied responsibility for the attack. Kata\u2019ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), which is one of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and is also sanctioned as a terrorist group by the US, denied it had attacked Erbil. It claimed there was a \u201cpartial agreement\u201d to stop attacks. Along with groups such as Katab Hezbollah, the KSS group is one of the major Iranian-backed threats in Iraq. These groups are also part of the Iraqi paramilitary group called the Popular Mobilization Forces. As such, they operate as both illegal militias and as a semi-official government force.<\/p>\n

Kadhim al-Fartousi, spokesperson for the KSS group, told Rudaw that the attack \u201cwas not carried out by our groups\u2026there is currently a partial agreement that no operations or attacks should be carried out, and that responding to Saudi Arabia\u2019s attacks should also be delayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SmokeSmoke rises after an explosion near Erbil International Airport in Erbil on March 6, 2026. (Illustrative) (credit: Ozan KOSE \/ AFP via Getty Images)Erbil backs Baghdad plan to bring militias\u2019 weapons under state control<\/p>\n

The Kurdistan Region has very good intelligence regarding which militias have targeted the region over the last year. It appears that Erbil is trying to work with Baghdad on a pragmatic solution that won\u2019t require confronting the militias directly. Baghdad was to disarm the militias or move their arms to be completely controlled by the government. Erbil supports this. So do the US, Saudi Arabia, and others.<\/p>\n

Kurdistan Regional President Nechirvan Barzani said in an interview with Iraq\u2019s privately owned Al Sharqiya TV, that the region has been targeted by 1,000 attacks using drones and missiles. \u201cAccording to Rudaw tracking, the attacks have killed 32 people and injured nearly 150 others,\u201d Rudaw noted.<\/p>\n

To understand the complexity of the situation, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said their 52nd Brigade would be deployed Amirli district in eastern Salahaddin province. This means that while the government reins in the militias, the PMF is still active throughout Iraq.<\/p>\n

Iraq seeks to bring armed groups under state authority despite PMF ties<\/p>\n

\u201cThe handover is part of a reorganization of security sectors and responsibilities aimed at enhancing field integration and coordination between the forces,\u201d a statement from the PMF said, according to Rudaw. \u201cThe development comes as the Iraqi government is seeking to place all armed forces and weapons under state authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PMF is a constitutional and legal institution and a major title and foundation for the movement of forces,\u201d Iraqi officials say. It remains to be seen how the Iraqis will rein in the militias so long as they also function within the PMF as official brigades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On August 14, three drones were intercepted over Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[682,94,362,51],"class_list":["post-251446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-drone-attack","tag-iraq","tag-kurdistan","tag-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117105611966564160","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}