The Khor Mor gas field, an important energy facility, was attacked Saturday. The attack came less than 24 hours after a report that the Iranian-backed group Kataib Hezbollah had made comments about the gas facility.
In the past, Iranian-backed groups have targeted the facility. The Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq and its Kurdistan Regional Government have long asked Baghdad for drone defenses to defend the gas field and other sites. Iran has carried out more than 1,000 drone and missile attacks on the Kurdistan Region since February.
Rudaw media in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, reported that “gas production at the Khor Mor field west of Sulaimani came to a halt late Sunday after an unknown projectile struck the facility’s gas storage unit, causing significant damage, according to a Rudaw reporter on the ground.” Reports and videos online show smoke and fire billowing from the facility and the sky lit up in orange from the flames. Some reports say the facility was struck by a drone.
Rudaw added that “a source from the field confirmed the attack to Rudaw’s Peshawa Bakhtyar but couldn’t determine whether the attack came from an attack drone or a rocket, adding that the strike has caused a ‘massive fire’ in the field.”
Bakhtyar also said that the strike “hit Khor Mor’s warehouse unit, which stores nearly 1.5 thousand tons of cooking gas through 170 oil tankers. The source said the fire was close to being brought under control.” A Telegram channel linked to pro-Iran terrorist groups has said a drone was involved in the attack.
Kataib Hezbollah makes veiled threat, alluding to Khor Mor
Meanwhile, on Sunday, reports noted that Abu Mujahid al-Assaf of Kataib Hezbollah had slammed Iraq’s prime minister Ali al-Zaidi and said, "we do not want to air dirty laundry in public, nor open the files of (Khor Mor) and the incitement to target it for the purpose of extorting the UAE; for whoever's house is made of glass should not throw stones at people."
The reference to Khor Mor may have been a threat. Zaidi has vowed to rein in armed groups and confiscate their weapons. Kataib Hezbollah has been in the spotlight amid this attempt to disarm various groups, including the Iranian-backed groups. Zaidi also canceled contracts at Mosul airport because of the contracts being linked to “armed groups,” which is usually a euphemism for Iranian-backed terrorist groups in Iraq.
Kataib Hezbollah has targeted facilities in Iraq in the past and also targeted Saudi Arabia and killed three Americans in Jordan in January 2024. Khor Mor gas field was attacked in December 2025, February 2025 and August 2023.