One French soldier was killed and several others were wounded in a drone attack targeting a military training base in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Friday – highlighting the growing risk to Western forces stationed in the Middle East.
The strike hit a facility used jointly by the Peshmerga internal security forces of Iraq’s Kurdistan region and French troops near the town of Makhmour, south of Erbil, the Kurdish capital.
According to French authorities, the soldier killed was Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion of the 7th Battalion of Chasseurs Alpins. At least six other French service members were wounded in the attack.
“To his family, to his brothers and arms, I want to express all the affection and solidarity of the nation,” Macron said on X.
France has hundreds of troops based in the Erbil region as part of a broader international coalition to fight Islamic State militants in the area.
Macron condemned the attack, stressing that the presence of French military personnel in Iraq “is strictly within the framework of the fight against terrorism.”
“This attack against our forces engaged in the fight against Daesh since 2015 is unacceptable,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
He added that wider regional hostilities – including the escalating confrontation involving Iran – cannot justify attacks on coalition forces. “The war in Iran cannot justify such attacks.”
It was not immediately clear where the drone had come from.
The incident occurred amid a wave of Iranian drone and missile strikes targeting coalition facilities in Iraqi Kurdistan following the latest escalation between Iran, Israel and the United States.
Over recent days, multiple military sites around Erbil, including bases hosting Western troops, have been targeted by drones and rockets, though most were intercepted by air defenses.
Also on Thursday, Italy’s defense ministry said an airstrike that hit an Italian military base in Iraqi Kurdistan overnight Wednesday was deliberate, according to Reuters.
France is deploying about a dozen naval vessels, including its aircraft carrier strike group, to the Mediterranean, Red Sea and potentially the Strait of Hormuz as part of defensive support to allies threatened by the conflict in the Middle East.