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Tag: Kurdistan region

  • Drone attack suspends operations at major Iraq gas field, power cuts occur across Kurdish region

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    A drone attack on the Khor Mor gas field in Iraq causes major power outages in northern regions, damaging key infrastructure and halting gas supplies to power stations. Authorities are investigating.

    A drone attack prompted the suspension of operations at the Khor Mor Oil and Gas field, one of the largest in Iraqi Kurdistan, and caused major power cuts across the northern region, field engineers and officials said on Wednesday.

    All gas supplies to power stations in the Kurdistan region were halted following the attack, the Natural Resources and Electricity ministries said in a joint statement.

    Widespread power outages have affected large areas of the region, local officials said.

    A drop of 3,000 megawatts in power generation is expected in Kurdistan after the attack, according to a statement from the Kurdish electricity ministry spokesperson, Omed Ahmed.

    This would result in an 80% reduction, Kurdish outlet Rudaw clarified.

    A fire blazes at Khor Mor Oil and Gas field following a drone strike, November 26, 2025. (credit: SCREENSHOT/X/VIA SECTION 27A OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT)

    The strike, which hit field storage tanks, started a fire and wounded some workers, security sources said.

    Firefighting teams worked to contain the blaze, and a field engineer said it would take two to three days to repair damage to the main liquid-gas storage depot.

    “A drone struck a key gas storage facility at the field, causing extensive damage, and a fire is still burning,” a worker told Reuters from the field shelter where staff had taken cover amid fears of further attacks.

    Two videos posted by Rudaw on X/Twitter showed smoke billowing from the site and a partial blackout in the city of Erbil after the drone attack.

    Teams from both ministries and the United Arab Emirates’ energy firm Dana Gas, one of the field’s operators, are on site investigating the incident, they said in the joint statement.

    The Pearl Consortium, which includes Dana Gas and its affiliate Crescent Petroleum, holds the rights to develop the Khor Mor field.

    The Security Media Cell, a Baghdad Federal Government body responsible for disseminating security information, said the field was hit in a “treacherous terrorist” attack that set fire to a main storage tank but caused no casualties.

    The incident also “poses a direct threat to the interests of Iraqis,” the body added.

    It said the strike would worsen power shortages in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah and that authorities would pursue those responsible.

    It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

    Prime Minister of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, reacted on X, saying that he condemns the “cowardly attack,” and that the “usual terrorists or whoever may be behind tonight’s attacks cannot be allowed to repeat these crimes or be released on bail, as in the past.”

    Barzani also urged “American and international partners to provide the defensive equipment necessary to protect our civilian infrastructure, and to support us in taking serious action to deter these attacks on our people and our progress.”

    This is the second drone attack that has targeted the field in days, as Iraqi Kurdish security forces opened fire at a drone to prevent it from reaching the field late on Sunday.

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  • Iraq pushes for Syrian border wall, threatening Iran’s regional influence

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    Iranian-backed militias used to infiltrate into Syria via the unguarded border – as such, any wall would actually hurt Iran’s project to control the Middle East.

    Iraq has continued to construct a 600km wall bordering Syria, despite Hamas’s October 7 invasion proving that such barriers are often inadequate.

    So far,Baghdad has built 350km of the wall, the North Press agency in eastern Syria reported on November 23. The completed sections are made of concrete.

    The fortification began being constructed in 2022. “Iraq has accelerated construction of a concrete security wall along its northwestern border with Syria, a stretch that also marks the frontier with the Kurdistan Region,” the report says.

    According to North Press, the Iraqis have “explained that approximately 350 kilometers of the concrete security wall have been completed, while efforts continue to seal all remaining gaps to prevent infiltration and smuggling.”

    The concrete wall is “reinforced by a multi-layered security system, which includes a trench 3 meters wide and 3 meters deep, an earthen berm rising 3 meters high, a four-layer inflatable barrier, observation towers positioned at one-kilometer intervals, each equipped with advanced thermal cameras linked to a centralized monitoring system.

    Members from Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) with aid to support victims of the deadly earthquake, wait to cross the border on the Iraqi side of Iraq-Syria border, Iraq, February 12, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/AHMED SAAD)

    ISIS invaded Iraq from Syria in 2014. But it wasn’t just ISIS that Iraq had to worry about. After ISIS was largely defeated in 2019, it was Iranian-backed militias that used to infiltrate into Syria via the unguarded border. As such, any wall would actually hurt Iran’s project to control the region.

    When the Assad regime fell, the Iraqi government decided to increase work on the wall because it wanted security with Syria.

    Syria and Iraq have a complex history

    In the wake of the Arab Revolt, one of the sons of the Arab leader Sharif Hussein, Faisal, sought to seize Syria and crown himself king. He was expelled by the French and ended up as the king of Iraq. His family’s rule came to an end in 1958.

    Eventually, both Syria and Iraq were led by types of the Ba’ath party. Later, Saddam Hussein was overthrown and Iraq shifted closer to Iran. This suited the Assad regime because it was also close to Iran. Today, things are a bit different; Iraq is led by pro-Iranian officials, while Damascus is led by former members of HTS, a Sunni group that opposed Iran’s role in Syria. Both Iraq and Syria have Kurdish regions that enjoy forms of regional rule.

    The wall is also supposed to have “an integrated defense network made up of trenches, barbed wire barriers, and early warning systems, supported by high-precision thermal imaging and 24/7 day-and-night surveillance devices.”

    Other reports in the region have closely followed the construction. Levant24 in Syria has also reported on it. A website named Sarif noted that “with the completion of this wall, four of Syria’s six neighboring countries have now begun to build security barriers on their borders.” These include Turkey’s 911km wall on the Syrian border, Israel’s fence system on the Golan, which the report says is 92km long. It also says Jordan has a “multi-layered barbed wire system, trenches, and guard towers are being completed with US funding.”

    A previous report in North Press also noted that Iraq had recently invested in a 40km section of wall between the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Syria. This stretches from Peshkhabur in Duhok Governorate to Rabia. It was unclear if this was an anti-Kurdish policy designed to divide the Kurdish regions of Iraq and Syria.

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  • Northern Iraq’s Kurdish region on edge after arrest of local opposition leader

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    The sudden reason for the arrest of Lahur Talabany is not clear but it casts a potential shadow over the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

    A gun battle took place in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq’s Sulimaniyeh overnight between Thursday and Friday as security forces sought to arrest an opposition party leader.

    The raid by the security forces targeted Lahur Talabany, who had previously been a senior leader within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party. However, he was pushed out in 2021 and has recently led a party called the People’s Front. The arrest of Talabany in the wake of the clashes and members of his party has raised eyebrows across Iraq with calls for an end to the violence.

    Shadow looms over Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

    The sudden reason for the arrest of Lahur Talabany is not clear but it casts a potential shadow over the PUK and Sulimaniyeh.

    The PUK is the second largest Kurdish party in the Kurdistan region. It is strongest in Sulimaniyeh, sometimes known as “Suli,” a city near the Iranian border. The other large Kurdish party, the KDP, is strongest in Erbil which is West of Suli. In general the two parties are led by key members of two families, the Barzanis in the KDP and the Talibanys in the PUK.

    People sit in a vehicle with flags of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on it, as their Kurdish supporters celebrate after the voting is closed for the Iraq’s Kurdistan region parliamentary election, in Sulimaniyeh, Iraq October 20, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/AKO RASHEED)

    “On Thursday, a court issued an arrest warrant for Talabany. Soon after news of the warrant broke, images of military vehicles patrolling city streets were shared on social media and by evening, security forces had surrounded Lalezar Hotel in the west of the city, home to Talabany’s party headquarters,” Rudaw media noted on Friday. “Aras Sheikh Jangi, brother of Lahur Talabany, predicted that blood would be shed that night,” the report noted.

    Around 400 or 500 armed men had holed up with Lahur at his headquarters. The security forces of the PUK-led region were led by the Counter-Terrorism Group. Talabany is a former leader of the CTG.

    The report noted that “Talabany, also known as Lahur Sheikh Jangi, was ousted in 2021 as co-chair of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) by his cousins Bafel and Qubad Talabani. He later founded the opposition party Baray Gal. The PUK is the ruling party in Sulaimani.” The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who is also deputy leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), called for calm. “I am working with all parties to end these tensions and prevent bloodshed and violence,” he said in a statement.

    Later, the office of president of the KRG, Nechirvan Barzani, also put out a statement. “Following the unfortunate incident early this morning in Sulimaniyeh, which regrettably resulted in a number of casualties, we emphasize the rule of law and the protection of the city’s security and peace, as well as safeguarding the lives and property of citizens. It is necessary that all disputes and conflicts be resolved through law and without violence.”

    In the wake of the battle, as the smoke cleared on Friday, it became clear several people had been killed, including a bodyguard affiliated with Lahur and his brothers; as well as members of the security forces. One of those killed was named as Ari Sheikh Suad Talabany, a member of the Counter-Terrorism Group. The Iraqi government has said it also regrets the violence in northern Iraq.

    Internal Kurdish fighting weakens the region’s stance

    US officials, members of the UN and others in Iraq are concerned. The officials in Erbil are concerned that the clashes in Suli could harm the entire region. This is because internal Kurdish fighting weakens the region’s stance in relation to Baghdad. Similar intrigue, for instance, caused the PUK to fold in the face of threats to Kirkuk by the federal government in 2017. The result was that Peshmerga of the KDP and PUK both withdrew from the city rapidly as the Iraqi army advanced. At the time Bafel had emerged as a leader of the PUK. For many years the leader of the PUK was Jalal Talabany, known locally as Mam Jalal. He died in October 2017 leading to power struggles within the party.

    In the wake of the battle against Lahur and his supporters a number of his condidants were arrested. These reportedly included his two brothers Aso and Polad Sheikh Jangi as well as others. A channel linked to Lahur, called Zoom, was also raided after the clashes. There are concerns about the aftermath of the clashes in Suli. “Bafel went too far and no one will believe his story for arresting Lahur,” a senior Iraqi Kurdish government advisor told Al-Monitor.

    Lahur was once a rising star in Kurdish politics. Back in 2016 a profile at the Insight International noted his key role in countering terrorism over the years. It noted how he had played a role in confronting Ansar al-Islam, an extremist group in the early 2000s. Later he rose to play a key role in the war on ISIS as the chief intelligence official in Suli.

    The report noted that “[Lahur] Talabani co-founded the CTG in late 2002 with his cousin, Bafel Talabani – has now evolved into a sophisticated anti-terror agency.” His rise and fall from playing a key role against terrorism from the 2000s through the war on ISIS, to being arrest by the same counter-terrorism forces he once led, is a reversal of fortune for the Kurdish leader.

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