French soldier killed by Iranian drone was on anti-jihad mission in Iraq

A French soldier killed Thursday in Iraq by an Iranian-made drone was part of a Western military contingent deployed in the autonomous Kurdistan region to combat a potential resurgence of the jihadist Islamic State group.

Operation Inherent Resolve is an international effort to combat the IS group – which seized swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014 – led by the United States. It originally comprised some 80 countries.

The operation has been scaled back in recent years after the jihadist group’s territorial defeat in 2016, although the IS group still maintains a presence in Syria‘s desert.

Since 2022, the Western force is no longer undertaking ground missions and is now primarily limited to air strikes, targeted operations and training.

The US contingent has been reduced to fewer than 2,000 troops, and in mid-February, Germany announced it was “temporarily” withdrawing some personnel from Erbil.

Around 20 countries are still involved, according to a recent report by the Pentagon‘s inspector general.

Before the Middle East war began, France had some 600 soldiers on the ground alongside British, Italian and Scandinavian troops.

Deteriorating regional dynamics, not to mention the start of the February 28 conflict, have changed the equation.

Since the beginning of the war, Iraqi Kurdistan and Erbil have suffered numerous attacks attributed to pro-Iranian factions, most of which have been neutralised by air defences.

The French soldier was killed, and six others wounded, in one such attack on Thursday night.

French President Emmanuel Macron identified the killed soldier as Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion of the 7th Battalion of Chasseurs Alpins from Varces.

“After February 28, we modified our posture to adapt to the threat level,” the French General Staff said Friday, without further details.

“We regularly redeploy our personnel to provide them with the best possible security guarantees.”

The day before, a drone struck the Italian base in Erbil, causing “damage to infrastructure and equipment”, according to the Italian commander of the site.

No injuries were reported in that attack, but Italy said it was temporarily withdrawing military personnel from the base, where it had been training members of the Kurdish security forces.

Also on Wednesday, British military personnel shot down two drones heading towards a base in Erbil, according to the British Ministry of Defence.

Earlier this week, US forces downed five of six drones launched against Erbil International Airport, which houses an American base.