Under-covered

‘We are vulnerable’: Kurds fear renewed attacks as US‑led coalition departs Iraq Wladimir van Wilgenburg on Thu, 10/01/2026 - 11:02 As Washington ends its decade‑long mission in Iraq, Kurds warn autonomous region is at risk amid US-Iran tensions Kurdish Peshmerga fighters about 60km south of Erbil, capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, on 30 September 2026 (Safin Hamid/AFP) Off On 28 September, residents of Erbil heard military aircraft overhead as the US‑led coalition against the Islamic State group (IS) was preparing for its full withdrawal. That same night, three Iranian drones hit a camp belonging to an Iranian Kurdish opposition party in Koya. Two days later, Koya was hit again by a drone, the first such attack after the coalition’s departure. On Wednesday, the US‑led coalition ended its more than decade‑long mission in Iraq, a mission that began in 2014 when IS seized large territories in Iraq and Syria and carried out mass atrocities. Although the militant group was declared defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, coalition forces remained to help contain its remnants. In 2024, Baghdad and Washington agreed to wind down the mission, prompting a gradual withdrawal from bases across Iraq and a final consolidation in the Kurdistan Region before the complete pullout, scheduled for 30 September. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The latest incidents in Koya underscore how exposed the Iraqi Kurdistan Region remains to drone and missile attacks amid ongoing tensions between Iran and the United States. According to a 27 September statement from the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs – the military forces of the autonomous Kurdish region – Iraqi Kurdistan has endured more than a thousand drone and ballistic missile attacks since Israel and the US launched the war on Iran on 28 February, causing casualties and significant material damage. 'The threat is real – we are vulnerable, we are being attacked

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KYIV, Ukraine: Several loud explosions rang out in Kyiv early Tuesday, with air defense systems activated during an air raid alert, AFP journalists observed. “New ballistic missiles are heading toward Kyiv,” the Ukrainian Air Force warned on Telegram. Journalists in Kyiv reported a combined drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital. Kyiv has been hit with intensifying Russian airstrikes, day and night, for weeks. On Monday, a woman was killed and six people were injured when a Russian dr

1 source · no Western pickup