IRGC attacks Komala base in Balisan, Erbil, with two drones

On the evening of Saturday, 17 October 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked the Komala group's base in the Balisan area of Erbil province in Iraq's Kurdistan Region with two drones. Ali Ranjbari, Komala's head of relations, confirmed the attack and said one drone hit the base and the other a guard post. He said the attack caused no casualties but damaged buildings.

A security source in the Kurdistan Region also confirmed the attack. Media affiliated with the authorities in Iran likewise reported a drone attack on the base of Kurdish armed groups in northern Iraq.

Repeated attacks on the territory of the Kurdistan Region

Since the start of the US and Israeli war with the Islamic Republic on 28 February 2026, the IRGC has repeatedly targeted the territory of Iraq's Kurdistan Region. According to monitoring by Iraqi Kurdistan media, more than a thousand drones and missiles have been fired at the Kurdistan Region since then by the IRGC and Iraqi militias allied with the Islamic Republic, and several Peshmerga have been killed.

Komala, which has its roots in Kurdish left-wing currents, is one of the armed groups opposed to the Islamic Republic that have been based in the Kurdistan Region for decades. The Islamic Republic calls these groups a security threat and has repeatedly violated Iraq's sovereignty by attacking its territory.

The attack comes at a time when the IRGC has raised tension in the region by attacking tankers and declaring the Strait of Hormuz "closed", and when, in Baghdad, an ammunition depot of the Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi), militias allied with the Islamic Republic, has exploded.

The IRGC has once again targeted the territory of Iraq's Kurdistan Region with drones.