A camp hosting Iranian Kurdish opposition members and their families in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq has been struck by drones, in what local officials say is the latest in a series of cross-border attacks blamed on Iran.
The Azadi camp in the Koysinjaq district of Erbil province was targeted late on Thursday into Friday by five drones, according to Kurdish media reports. The drones are believed to have been launched from Iranian territory.
Opposition figures said the attack caused damage to property but no casualties.
Kawa Bahrami, a representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said one drone was intercepted before reaching the camp, while others fell nearby. “Only material damage was recorded,” he said in a statement.
The strike is part of a broader escalation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which has increasingly been drawn into regional tensions linked to the ongoing conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel.
Figures cited by local officials suggest that since 28 February, more than 735 rocket and drone attacks have been launched at targets in the region, many by Iraqi armed factions aligned with Tehran. Some strikes are also believed to have originated inside Iran.
Ali Shankali, another member of the Iranian Kurdish opposition , said the attacks were intended to send a signal on multiple fronts. “The first message is to Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, keeping them under constant threat even inside Iraqi Kurdistan,” he told The New Arab .
“The second is directed at Baghdad and Erbil, showing that Tehran is enforcing its security red lines beyond its borders,” he added.
He said the targeting of a camp housing civilians, including women and children, suggested an expansion of pressure beyond armed groups to their wider communities.
Despite the repeated strikes, there has been no official response from the Iraqi government. No diplomatic protest or public statement has been issued by authorities in Baghdad, raising questions among analysts and local officials about the government’s ability to assert sovereignty.
Shankali said the lack of action risked emboldening further attacks. This silence may be interpreted by Tehran as an open space, he said, warning it could encourage continued strikes.
Analysts say the use of drones reflects a shift in how the war is being fought, with lower-cost, targeted attacks replacing more conventional forms of confrontation.
Areas around Koysinjaq and Erbil appear to have become testing grounds for such operations, allowing those behind the strikes to gauge political and military responses.
The latest incident comes just days after similar attacks on the same camp and on a residential complex for Iranian Kurdish refugees in the Surdash area, south of Sulaymaniyah. Those strikes also caused damage but no reported injuries.
The pattern recalls earlier waves of attacks during periods of heightened conflict, when hundreds of rockets and drones targeted sites across the region before a temporary lull in hostilities between Washington and Tehran.
Kurdistan Region capital Erbil has been among the hardest-hit areas, with previous attacks causing civilian casualties as well as damage to infrastructure and economic facilities. Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here .