Six French soldiers were injured this Thursday during a “drone attack in the Erbil region”in Iraqi Kurdistan, the French Army General Staff told AFP. According to the same source, the soldiers were “engaged in training actions in the fight against terrorism with Iraqi partners” at the time of the attack. The general staff specifies that “They were immediately taken to the nearest medical center”.
This attack comes against a backdrop of tensions in the region. Italy, for its part, announced that it would temporarily withdraw all its personnel from a military base located in Erbil, after a drone attack which caused no casualties. A withdrawal was already planned and will not be “only temporary”assured the Italian Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, to the TG1 television channel.
Explosions heard near Erbil airport
The head of Italian diplomacy Antonio Tajani also condemned “the drone attack against the Italian base in Erbil”. In a message published on “the balanced position of the Kurdish regional government” and calling for “exercise caution and restraint in order to avoid any further escalation.” The Italian base “is located within an enclosure which hosts other bases from other countries, particularly Americans”underlined Antonio Tajani, adding that the authorities did not know if the attack “targeted the Italian base or the compound in general”.
Since the start of the war in the Middle East, the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan and the city of Erbil have suffered several attacks attributed to pro-Iranian factions. On Wednesday evening, drones were shot down above Erbil by the international coalition based at the city’s airport, according to a Kurdish security source, causing sounds of explosions, noted by AFP journalists.
