Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region suffers as US-Iran war drags on

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region is facing mounting economic and security pressure as the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran continues. The story says the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil has tried to stay out of the fighting, but the region has still been hit by missile and drone attacks over the past several months.

KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani told Al Jazeera that the region has been struck more than 1,000 times, with damage to infrastructure, casualties and disruption to key facilities. A KRG spokesman said the authorities estimate losses at about 1.5 trillion Iraqi dinars, or $1.14 billion, through April, and said trade across the region has fallen by 70 percent. The article also says attacks have affected military and security sites, energy installations, and some civilian areas.

The report links the violence to wider regional tensions involving Iran-backed armed groups operating in Iraq and retaliatory strikes involving US assets in Iraq. It also notes that the Kurdistan region was already dealing with a long-running financial dispute with Baghdad over salaries, oil sales and revenues, and that disruptions to oil and gas production have made the situation worse.

Al Jazeera says analysts and KRG officials warn that prolonged conflict could deepen the economic strain, especially if energy facilities remain under attack or export routes stay blocked. The article places the Kurdish region’s troubles within a broader Iraqi crisis, as Baghdad also faces pressure from falling oil revenues and regional instability.