Kurdistan

Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, who have been targeting the Kurdistan Region with drones and missiles, were likely behind a drone attack that killed a French soldier.

Macron called the attack "unacceptable" and said that the French troops were stationed in the region as part of France's support in fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The defense ministry initially spoke of a missile attack on the Italian base in Erbil, but ministry sources later said it was a drone that had destroyed a military vehicle, possibly by accident.

It was the latest attempt by the Iranian regime and Iranian-backed militias to target the UAE, which has been attacked with hundreds of drones and missiles since the war with Iran broke out.

Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar also came under attack, as Oman's Muscat airport limited private jet flights into the Gulf State's capital.

"I don't want to see the Kurds get hurt and killed. And we've had a good relationship. They're willing to go in. But we really, I've told them I don't want them to go in," the US president said.

Members of the IRGC, the Basij, and other repressive forces still deployed in the streets have become fatigued and desperate, the officer said.

As Iranian proxies target Iraq's Kurdistan, the US is reportedly courting Kurdish Iranian militias for a ground front. Groups remain split between seizing the moment and avoiding total war.

The drone attack, which came the same day as two other Erbil drone attacks, occured amid Kurdish concerns of being dragged into the Iran war.

An Israeli source cautioned that there was pushback from the Iraqi Kurds, and without their practical support it would be hard for the Iranian Kurds to mobilize.