Drone attack: Iran targets Kurdish opposition bases in Iraq

The Revolutionary Guards have not immediately claimed responsibility for the strikes on the fighters.

Iran’s armed forces have attacked bases of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in Iraq’s Kurdistan region using drones, a Tehran-based media outlet reported on Sunday. “As part of a drone operation carried out by the Revolutionary Guards’ ground forces, the headquarters of the terrorist and separatist group Komala, located in the Balisan region, was targeted last night,” the Mehr news agency said.

An initial assessment suggested that the operation caused significant damage and casualties to the group’s structure and operational capacity, Mehr claimed. The Revolutionary Guards have not immediately claimed responsibility for the strikes on the fighters, whom Iran accuses of being backed by Israel, its sworn enemy, AFP reported.

The semi-autonomous region is home to camps and bases of several Iranian Kurdish militant groups, which Iran has repeatedly targeted since the Middle East war began in February. The latest attack is part of a wider pattern of Iranian strikes against Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in Iraq since the regional war began in February.

On July 17, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps missile strike hit a Komala compound near Sulaymaniyah in Iraq's Kurdistan region, killing nine members, according to the AFP. More recently, a drone attack on a Komala base in the Balisan area on October 17 caused damage to buildings but no casualties, according to Rudaw, which cited a Komala official and a regional security source.

The group blamed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for the attack. Iran has accused Iranian Kurdish opposition groups of receiving support from Israel, its regional adversary. However, claims of Israeli arms supplies to Komala have been denied by the group's leadership.