Iraq confirms June drone attacks used foreign-made weapons
On June 24, the Iraqi government said that several small suicide drones targeted multiple Iraqi military sites and bases, including the radar systems at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, and Imam Ali Base in Dhi Qar Province in southern Iraq.
Sabah al-Numan, the military spokesman for the prime minister, said that Iraq identified 'the origin of the drones used in the attacks,' adding that they were 'equipped with warheads of varying weights and were manufactured outside Iraq.'
The drones were also launched from several locations inside Iraq.
They were all of the same type, which indicates 'a single executing party'.
Numan said the government also identified 'the entities involved in planning and carrying out' these attacks.
Numan did not specify where the drones were made or identify those responsible, but he said that 'all those involved… will be referred to the Iraqi judiciary.'
Long plagued by conflict, Iraq frequently experiences such attacks, often linked to regional proxy struggles between Iran and the United States and its ally Israel.
A source close to the Iran-backed Iraqi factions, who had in previous years hit bases hosting US troops, told AFP the groups have nothing to do with the drone attacks.
The June attacks came hours before a ceasefire took hold between Israel and Iran, and after Iran launched missiles at a US military facility in Qatar in retaliation for US bombing of its nuclear facilities.
In the past few weeks, Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdistan region has seen a spate of unclaimed drone attacks, mostly against oil fields.
Baghdad has promised an investigation to identify the culprits.
The attacks in Kurdistan come at a time of simmering tension between Baghdad and the regional administration in Arbil over oil exports from Kurdistan, which have been blocked since 2023.
The last attack occurred on Thursday morning on an oil field, hours before Baghdad announced a deal with Arbil to resume oil exports.
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