ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan — Six Kurdish Peshmerga fighters died and 30 were wounded Tuesday when Iranian ballistic missiles struck their base north of Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. It appears to be the first direct Iranian attack on Peshmerga forces; Iran and its allied militias in Iraq had until then stuck to attacking U.S. installations and Iranian Kurdish opposition training camps operating within Iraqi Kurdistan. Striking the Iraqi Peshmerga directly is, by any measure, an escalation. “We strongly condemn this attack, as well as all terrorist acts against the Kurdistan Region,” the ministry said in its statement, while reiterating its right to respond to any aggression. “We call on all parties to keep war and instability away from the Kurdistan Region.” KRG President Nechirvan Barzani also condemned the strike.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 27, 2026 19:24 UTC