On Friday, drone and rocket strikes killed nine members of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in Iraq's Kurdistan region, according to the exiled party, which accused Iran of carrying out the attack.

These cross-border operations are part of Iran's ongoing campaign against exiled Kurdish factions that it considers a security threat.

In Irbil, the capital of Kurdistan, the US-led anti-jihadist coalition shot down several drones and AFP journalists heard loud explosions in the city.

The attacks, which the Kurdish government also attributed to Tehran, occur amid renewed military tensions between the United States and Iran, both key allies of Iraq.

During the Middle East war, the Kurdistan region, which hosts US troops and foreign oil companies as well as exiled Iranian Kurdish rebels, has been a target for attacks carried out by Iran and pro-Iran Iraqi armed groups.

Idriss Kohlwazi from the exiled Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan told AFP: “The Iranian regime attacked at 04:30 am (0130 GMT) with drones and rockets a camp.”

The strikes killed nine members of the party at their camp near the city of Sulaimaniyah, he said.

Later, a strike hit another camp belonging to Kurdish rebels, wounding two fighters, according to Komala’s Amjad Panahi.

Even after a ceasefire was declared in April, Iran has persisted in targeting Kurdish opposition groups, which Tehran accuses of serving Western and Israeli interests.

But Friday’s attack marked the biggest escalation, with these groups having mostly evacuated their bases and camps since the war.

In Irbil, Kurdish counterterrorism forces said that “coalition forces downed eight explosive-laden drones over Irbil between 04:19 and 05:25 am (0119 and 0225 GMT)” on Friday, with no damage or casualties reported.

Later, a Kurdish security official said five more drones were intercepted.

Irbil is home to a major US consulate complex and its airport houses military advisers attached to the US-led coalition.

Separately, a strike hit a weapon warehouse belonging to Kurdish forces in northern Iraq on Friday, a Kurdish military source said.

“A missile hit a Peshmerga arms depot in the town of Tasluja,” which is near Sulaimaniyah, the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media.

The strike caused a huge fire in the area, but no casualties were reported, he said.

The prime minister of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region on Friday denounced “the unjustified attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Kurdistan region.”

Masrour Barzani’s office said that “while urging the Islamic Republic of Iran to stop this escalation, we also call on the Iraqi federal government and the international community to end these violations.”

On Wednesday evening, the coalition also shot down eight drones over Irbil, with AFP journalists reporting that the drones were hit by air defenses near the US consulate, which was a primary target of attacks during the regional war.

No group has claimed responsibility for any attacks in Irbil.

During the Middle East war, pro-Iran armed groups, operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, targeted US facilities in Iraq more than 600 times in support of Tehran.

Friday's assault marks the most significant escalation since the groups largely evacuated their bases after the outbreak of regional hostilities. The downing of multiple drones by coalition forces near Irbil highlights the heightened security risks in the Kurdistan region, which hosts both US troops and Iranian-backed militias. The situation underscores the fragile balance in an area caught between US-Iran rivalry and local Kurdish aspirations.