Iranupdated 1h ago2 min read
MapIranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Strikes Komala Base In Iraq’s Kurdistan Region With Shahed Drone
“causing significant losses.”
“causing material damage but no casualties, the group said”
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL · Cropped for layout
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IRGC drone struck Komala base in Iraq's Kurdistan Region. Strike caused material damage with no casualties reported.
Drone strike in Balisan
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck a base belonging to the Iranian Kurdish opposition group Komala in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, causing material damage but no casualties, according to Komala and regional media. Komala said an explosive-laden Shahed drone targeted one of its bases in the Alana Valley in the Balisan area of Erbil province at around 10 pm on Saturday, and the group said its fighters in the area were safe.
Mehr News Agency also reported the drone attack, and the strike followed another reported drone strike against a Komala base in the Balisan area on October 17 that caused material damage without reported casualties. The attack came as Iranian missile strikes on Komala positions near Zargwez in Sulaymaniyah province on July 17 killed nine members of the group and wounded several others, according to Kurdish media and human rights organisations.
Competing casualty accounts
Iran’s Mehr News Agency described the Komala headquarters in Balisan as the target of an IRGC drone operation and said an initial assessment found significant damage and casualties to the group’s structure and operational capacity. A separate account from Rudaw said an explosive-laden drone struck a Komala base in the Alana Valley of the Balisan area at around 10 pm and caused material damage but no casualties, while Komala confirmed its Peshmerga fighters were safe.
Two Iranian Hadid-110 attack drones targeted Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) positions in the Balisan Valley on Wednesday, and PAK spokesperson Rebaz Sharifi said those strikes caused no casualties. DW said Iran’s state media reported that the IRGC used a drone to attack positions of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, while it also said Iran announced it shot down an American drone over Bandar Abbas.
Regional tensions and fallout
The strike was part of a series of Iranian drone and missile attacks targeting Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region, despite a security agreement between Baghdad and Tehran aimed at addressing Iran’s concerns over their presence near the border. Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad claimed that Iraqi and Iranian authorities had agreed to expel the groups from the Kurdistan Region or hand them over to Tehran after a joint security meeting, while an Iraqi official who attended the meeting denied that such an agreement had been reached.
Iraq and Iran signed a security agreement in March 2023 requiring Baghdad to disarm Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and relocate them away from the shared border, and Tehran continued to strike their positions in the Kurdistan Region. Rudaw further stated that Iran and pro-Iran groups have targeted the Kurdistan Region with over 1,000 drones and missiles since the start of the regional war.