Pro-Iran Groups Escalate Attacks Upon Kurds In July 2025

 

Iraq’s pro-Iran Resistance escalated its campaign against the Kurds in July with two dozen incidents. The Islamic State also made a rare appearance during the month.

 

At the start of July there was a kidnapping in rural Kirkuk by the Islamic State. This was likely done for ransom which is still a proven source of revenue for the insurgent.

 

Since the start of the year there has only been 13 incidents by the militants, an all time low as IS has ceased to be an active armed group in Iraq.

 

In June the Resistance made up of pro-Iranian Hashd elements started attacking Kurdish targets across northern Iraq. That resulted in 6 incidents during the month.

 

In July there were 24 attacks by these factions. Few of these were successful however.

 

A drone crashed in Diyala.

 

A drone hit a displaced camp and the Sarsang, Tawke, and Ain Sifni oil fields and the Sheikhan oil refinery in Dohuk. Another crashed in the countryside.

 

Two drones were shot down over Irbil Airport and a third crashed in Irbil City and a fourth in a rural area of the province.

 

Rockets were fired at Kirkuk airport and two drones hit the Khurmala Dome oil field, while three drones crashed and another was shot down approaching a Peshmerga base.

 

There was a drone crash in the Makhmour district of northern Ninewa.

 

12 drones were shot down over Baiji Refinery in Salahaddin leading to three being wounded.

 

Four more drones were downed over Sulaymaniya, one over a Peshmerga base and another over the Miran gas field, and one crashed.

 

This was all provoked by the pro-Iran group failing to take part in the Israel-Iran War. To try to save face the Hashd units went after the Kurds who are seen as pro-Western and pro-Israeli.

 

What was interesting was that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force commander General Ismail Qaani visited Baghdad towards the end of July and told the Resistance to stop their attacks upon the Kurds but they continued anyways. Qaani has had previous consultations with these Hashd groups about their operations and failed as well. The Resistance still follows Tehran’s lead and is funded by Iran but they often follow their own agenda within Iraq to maintain their standing.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Jul 1-7	Jul 8-14	Jul 15-21	Jul 22-28	Jul 29-31	Totals
Diyala	1 Pro-Iran	-	-	-	-	1 Pro-Iran
Dohuk	1 Pro-Iran	-	4 Pro-Iran	-	1 Pro-Iran	6 Pro-Iran
Irbil	-	1 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran		3 Pro-Iran
Kirkuk	3/2 Pro-Iran	2 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran		7/6 Pro-Iran
Ninewa	-	-	-	-	1 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran
Salahaddin	1 Pro-Iran	-	-	-	-	1 Pro-Iran
Sulaymaniya	3 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran			6 Pro-Iran
Totals	10/9 Pro-Iran	4 Pro-Iran	7 Pro-Iran	2 Pro-Iran	2 Pro-Iran	25/24 Pro-Iran

 

Security In Iraq 2023-25

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
JAN 2023	29/4 Pro-Iran	12	15
FEB	20/3 Pro-Iran	12	18
MAR	9	18	8
APR	16	6	8
MAY	15	8	14
JUN	10	10	10
JUL	11/2 Pro-Iran	2	4
AUG	13/1 Pro-Iran	2	23
SEP	5	2	6
OCT	17/15 Pro-Iran	-	8
NOV	35/29 Pro-Iran	15	29 (8 Amer)
DEC	35/26 Pro-Iran	2K	16W
Jan 1-7	10/6 Pro-Iran/1 Iranian	5	9
Jan 8-14	7/3 Pro-Iran	3	3
Jan 15-21	10/6 Pro-Iran	6	6
Jan 22-28	11/10 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jan 29-31	3 Pro-Ira	-	-
JAN 2024	42/28 Pro-Iran/1 Iranian	14	20
Feb 1-7	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Feb 8-14	-	-	-
Feb 15-21	-	-	-
Feb 22-29	1	-	-
FEB	2/1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Mar 1-7	4/2 Pro-Iran	1	4
Mar 8-14	8/1 Pro-Iran	4	8
Mar 15-21	2	-	2
Mar 22-28	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Mar 29-31	2/1Pro-iran	1	1
MAR	18/6 Pro-Iran	6	15
Apr 1-7	3/2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Apr 8-14	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Apr 15-21	3 Pro-Iran	-	-
Apr 22-28	1 Pro-Iran	4	-
Apr 29-30	1	2	-
APR	9/7 Pro-Iran	6	-
May 1-7	3 Pro-Iran	-	-
May 8-14	6/5 Pro-Iran	5	5
May 15-21	11/9 Pro-Iran	1	6
May 22-28	6/2 Pro-Iran	11	12
May 29-31	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
MAY	27/20 Pro-Iran	18	22
Jun 1-7	4 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jun 8-14	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jun 15-21	2/1 Pro-Iran	1	-
Jun 22-28	5 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jun 29-31	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
JUN	14/13 Pro-Iran	1	-
Jul 1-7	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jul 8-14	4	10	4
Jul 15-21	4 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jan 22-28	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jul 29-31	-	-	-
JUL	12/8 Pro-Iran	10	4
Aug 1-7	3/2Pro-Iran	-	10 (5 Amer)
Aug 8-14	2	2	-
Aug 15-21	2/1 Pro-Iran	-	2
Aug 22-28	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Aug 29-31	4/1 Pro-Iran	4	8 (7 Amer)
AUG	13/6 Pro-Iran	6	20 (14 Amer)
Sep 1-7	3/1 Pro-Iran	5	4
Sep 8-14	3/1 Pro-Iran	4	5
Sep 15-21	5/2 Pro-Iran	-	7
Sep 22-28	18 Pro-Iran	-	-
Sep 29-30	8 Pro-Iran	-	-
SEP	37/30 Pro-Iran	9	16
Oct 1-7	21/18 Pro-Iran	6	14
Oct 8-14	17 Pro-Iran	-	-
Oct 15-21	9/8 Pro-Iran	1	-
Oct 22-28	17 Pro-Iran	-	2 US Soldiers
Oct 29-31	6 Pro-Iran	-	-
OCT	70/66 Pro-Iran	7	14 (2US Soldiers)
Nov 1-7	18 Pro-Iran	-	-
Nov 8-14	19 Pro-Iran	-	-
Nov 15-21	10/9 Pro-Iran	3	3
Nov 22-28	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Nov 29-30	-	-	-
NOV	49/48 Pro-Iran	3	3
Dec 1-7	-	-	-
Dec 8-14	1	2	2
Dec 15-21	-	-	-
Dec 22-28	2	6	2
Dec 29-31	2	2	3
DEC	5	10	7
Jan 1-5	1	1	-
Jan 8-14	1	-	3
Jan 15-21	2	8	5
Jan 22-28	-	-	-
Jan 29-31	-	-	-
JAN 2025	4	9	8
Feb 1-7	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Feb 8-14	3	1	6
Feb 15-21	1	-	-
Feb 22-28	1	-	2
FEB	6/1 Pro-Iran	1	7
Mar 1-7	1	-	-
Mar 8-14	-	-	-
Mar 15-21	-	-	-
Mar 22-28	-	-	-
Mar 29-31	-	-	-
MAR	1	-	-
Apr 1-7	-	-	-
Apr 8-14	-	-	-
Apr 15-21	-	-	-
Apr 22-28	-	-	-
Apr 29-30	-	-	-
APR	-	-	-
May 1-7	1	-	1
May 8-14	1	-	-
May 15-21	-	-	-
May 22-28	-	-	-
May 29-31	-	-	-
MAY	2	-	1
Jun 1-7	-	-	-
Jun 8-14	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jun 15-21	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jun 22-28	4 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jun 29-30	-	-	-
JUN	6 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jul 1-7	10/9 Pro-Iran	-	3
Jul 8-14	4 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jul 15-21	7 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jul 22-28	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jul 29-31	2 Pro-Iran	-	-
JUL	25/24 Pro-Iran	-	3

 

SOURCES

 

Al Aalem, “Qaani, on a quick visit to Baghdad, warns faction leaders against crossing red lines,” 7/28/25

 

Agence France Presse, “Drone attacks target Iraq airport and oil field: Kurd forces,” 7/14/25

 

Bas News, “Explosive Drones Intercepted Across Kurdistan,” 7/4/25

- “Two Explosive-Laden Drones Downed Near Peshmerga Bases,” 7/11/25

 

Hussein, Mohammed, Tahir, Nawaz, “Drone attacks signal elevated risks for Kurdistan,” Iraq Oil Report, 7/3/25

 

Kurdistan 24, "Bomb-Laden Drone Crashes Near Erbil's District of Makhmour," 7/30/25

 

Al Mada, “The factions and ISIS share the night of drone and missile attacks on vital facilities,” 7/2/25

 

NINA, "A Drone crashes into agricultural land near an oil field in Kirkuk / Expanded," 7/16/25

- "Explosive-Laden Drone Crashes in Erbil with No Casualties Reported," 7/28/25

- "Shekhan oil refinery in Dohuk targeted by a drone," 7/17/25

 

Rudaw, "Kurdish farmer disappears in Kirkuk, ISIS suspected," 7/4/25

- “Who is behind recent rocket, drone attacks in Kurdistan region, disputed territories?” 7/2/25

 

Shafaq News, "A drone crashed in a village in Hawija, Kirkuk," 7/28/25

 

Al Sumaria, "An unidentified drone crashed in Dohuk," 7/29/25

 

Tahir, Rawaz, Hussein, Mohammed, "Kurdistan oil sector under attack," Iraq Oil Report, 7/16/25

 

Xinhua, "Iraq reports frequent drone attacks on oil fields run by foreign companies," 7/17/25