Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Forces Down 10 Drones Over Erbil in Two-Hour Interception

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism forces announced on Wednesday that allied forces intercepted and shot down 10 drone attacks over Erbil governorate airspace between 1:13 and 3:31 a.m., with no casualties reported from any of the interceptions.

According to information from the Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Directorate, the two-hour and eighteen-minute interception window saw all 10 incoming drones successfully neutralized before any reached their targets. The directorate confirmed that no loss of life or injuries occurred as a result of the attack.

The overnight drone interception is the latest in a sustained pattern of aerial attacks against the Kurdistan Region that has continued throughout the six-month US-Iran conflict. The Kurdistan Region has maintained strict neutrality since the war began on February 28, 2026, but has nonetheless absorbed repeated Iranian drone and missile strikes on its territory, infrastructure, and government facilities throughout the conflict.

The most significant previous attack on KRG government infrastructure occurred on Monday, August 17, 2026, when two Hadid-110 drones launched from within Iranian borders struck the private office of Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the landing site of the Kurdistan Protection Agency Director in Pirmam district, Erbil governorate, at 00:28 a.m. That attack drew condemnations from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, the Iraqi federal government, the Kurdistan Human Rights Commission, the Kurdistan Rawendi Confederation, US Congressman Don Bacon, and Iraqi Federal Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who declared that any violation of the Kurdistan Region's security is a violation of Iraq's national security.

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani responded to that earlier attack with the statement: "These attacks cannot stop us. We will continue our duties and the protection of our citizens." Wednesday's successful interception of all 10 incoming drones before any damage occurred reflects the continuing effort by Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism forces and allied units to build air defense capacity in the Region in response to the sustained aerial threat.

The interceptions took place in the early morning hours of Wednesday, the same day Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that Iran's economic collapse is now only a matter of time and that Tehran has lost all access to the US dollar, and as the broader conflict continued to produce aerial and naval exchanges between American and Iranian forces across the region.