Tag: drones

Drone Attack Shuts Down Oil Field Run by US Company in Iraqi Kurdistan

A drone attack in Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday suspended operations at an oil field operated by a US company, marking the latest in a series of attacks in the region.

HKN Energy, the US firm operating the Sarsang oil field, reported an explosion at 7:00 am local time, followed by a fire. “Operations at the affected facility have been suspended until the site is secured,” the company said.

Workers at the oil field told Rudaw that it was targeted by a drone, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) denounced the attack as “an act of terrorism against the Kurdistan Region’s vital economic infrastructure.” The US Embassy in Iraq also denounced the attack.

A day earlier, two drones targeted a different oil field in the area, and another was intercepted at the Erbil airport, which houses US troops. The airport has come under attack several times in recent weeks, and so far, there have been no casualties.

No group has taken responsibility for the spate of drone attacks. The KRG has blamed the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of Iraqi Shia militias that are part of the Iraqi government’s security forces, but Baghdad has denied the accusation.

PMF-affiliated militias have been responsible for previous drone and rocket attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria, including the more than 100 attacks that occurred in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, as groups were targeting the US over its support for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. The attacks were claimed by a PMF-affiliated group that calls itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

Those attacks culminated in the January 2024 attack on Tower 22, a secretive US base in Jordan near the Syrian border, which killed three US Army Reserve soldiers and wounded dozens of National Guard members. The US launched major airstrikes against the PMF in response, killing 40 people, and assassinated a high-level commander in Kataib Hezbollah, one of the main Iran-aligned militias.

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IDF Soldiers Say Grenade-Drones Being Used On Civilians: ‘None Of Them Were Armed’

The Israel Defense Forces are routinely killing civilians in Gaza with commercial drones modified to drop grenades on them — often leaving the corpses to be eaten by dogs, according to interviews with seven soldiers and officers conducted by Israeli investigative journalists. The tactic is being used to deter civilians from venturing into areas declared off-limits by the IDF, with indifference to the fact that the individuals — some of them children — pose no threat. Compounding the amorality of the conduct, the soldiers say the off-limits areas aren’t marked on the ground.   

According to Israel’s +972 Magazine and Local Call, every Palestinian killed in this fashion was counted as a “terrorist” in the IDF’s official reporting. The soldiers say that’s utterly false. One soldier identified as “S” says that he coordinated dozens of drone attacks over the 100 days his unit was deployed in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and that the vast majority of the dead were unarmed civilians. The only two exceptions were a single executed Palestinian who merely had a knife, along with only one legitimate encounter with armed militants. 

By his recollection, the battalion killed a civilian in this fashion on a daily basis, even though it was obvious to him that the Palestinians posed no threat. “It was clear that they were trying to return to their homes — there’s no question. None of them were armed, and nothing was ever found near their bodies. We never fired warning shots. Not at any point.”

Adding another layer of horror to the IDF-orchestrated hell that is Gaza, the corpses — which were upwards of a mile from their killers — were typically left to be eaten by dogs, says S.: 

“You could see it on the drone footage. I couldn’t bring myself to watch a dog eating a body, but others around me watched it. The dogs have learned to run toward areas where there’s shooting or explosions — they understand it probably means there’s a body there.”

Worse, S. said children have been deliberately targeted: 

“There was a boy who entered the [off-limits] zone. He didn’t do anything. [Other soldiers] claimed to have seen him standing and talking to people. That’s it — they dropped a grenade from a drone…In most cases, there was nothing you could tell yourself. There was no way to complete the sentence, ‘We killed them because ____.’”

“There were many incidents of dropping grenades from drones,” said H., a soldier who’d been deployed to central Gaza.  . “Were they aimed at armed militants? Definitely not. Once a commander defines an imaginary red line that no one is allowed to cross, anyone who does is marked for death,” even just for “walking in the street.” These new accounts are consistent with previous reporting that the IDF creates “kill zones” where soldiers shoot anyone moving inside the area, followed by the IDF boasting that another terrorist was killed. Where IDF soldiers’ ability to mow down civilians in kill zones was previously limited by the range of their rifles, drones now let them kill from several kilometers away.  

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Air Force Confirms Drone Swarms Over Wright-Patterson AFB Led to Airspace Shutdown; Videos and Reports Released

Newly released Air Force records confirm that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) in Ohio experienced multiple drone incursions in mid-December 2024, prompting the temporary shutdown of military airspace and a large-scale security response. The disclosure, made through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to The Black Vault, includes incident reports, sworn witness statements, law enforcement documentation, and supporting video footage—all now public for the first time.

The base, one of the most prominent and historically significant in the U.S. Air Force system, initiated emergency procedures on December 13, 2024, after security forces reported observing several unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operating in restricted airspace.

Initial sightings occurred at 10:08 p.m., when patrols near the Hot Cargo Pads spotted a drone hovering in the area and heading toward the West Ramp of the installation. The object was described as “black, with four (4) propellers, was roughly 6 inches in size, and had alternating red and green lights.” It was later seen flying over Fire Station #2 at about 20 feet off the ground.

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‘Like a video game’: Israel enforcing Gaza evacuations with grenade-firing drones

The Israeli military has weaponized a fleet of Chinese-manufactured commercial drones to attack Palestinians in parts of Gaza that it seeks to depopulate, an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call can reveal. According to interviews with seven soldiers and officers who served in the Strip, these drones are operated manually by troops on the ground, and are frequently used to bomb Palestinian civilians — including children — in an effort to force them to leave their homes or prevent them from returning to evacuated areas.

Soldiers most commonly use EVO drones, produced by the Chinese company Autel, which are primarily intended for photography and cost around NIS 10,000 (approximately $3,000) on Amazon. However, with a military-issued attachment known internally as an “iron ball,” a hand grenade can be affixed to the drone and dropped with the push of a button to detonate on the ground. Today, the majority of Israeli military companies in Gaza use these drones.

S., an Israeli soldier who served in the Rafah area this year, coordinated drone attacks in a neighborhood of the city that the army had ordered to be evacuated. During the nearly 100 days that his battalion operated there, soldiers conducted dozens of drone strikes, according to daily reports from his battalion commander that +972 and Local Call reviewed.

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Russia Attacks Ukraine With 728 Drones Overnight, Trump Continues Weapons Flow, Medvedev Mocks

Russia launched its largest combined attack on Ukraine overnight, targeting it with nearly all missiles and drones. Ukraine’s Air Force says 728 drones and 13 missiles were used—an all-time record. 296 drones were shot down. 415 were jammed or lost via electronic warfare.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared, “Diplomatic options to end the war in Ukraine are exhausted.”

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said ,”The top American is riding his favorite political rollercoaster again.

“I am pleased with my conversation with Putin.” / “I’m very disappointed with the conversation with Putin.” / “We are not supplying new weapons to Ukraine.” / “We will send more weapons to Ukraine” for defense. 

“How should we treat this?

“Just like before. The way our warriors do. The way our Commander-in-Chief does.

“…Business as usual. 

“Push forward to achieve the goals of the Special Military Operation. 

“Reclaim our land.

“Keep working for our Victory.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth didn’t look happy at the announcement, but CIA Director Radcliffe sure did.

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The Spiderweb & The Lion: Subversive Infiltration And US National Security

Over a decade ago, when I was working on force protection issues for Navy air logistics missions, the threat of drone attacks was just beginning to be seriously discussed. We kicked around contingencies and “what ifs,” but those discussions were largely in the background of mission planning. Over the course of the past ten years however, that threat has exploded to the forefront of the military operational planning world and has presented something altogether new in modern warfare.

In the early hours of June 1, 2025, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) executed Operation Spiderweb, an audacious drone assault on Russian airfields that destroyed or damaged a number of Russia’s most prized aircraft, including possibly two A-50 early-warning planes and as many as a dozen strategic bombers. Drones, smuggled into Russia over 18 months and concealed in remote-controlled containers, were launched from within Russian territory, catching Moscow’s defenses off guard.

Just days later, on June 13, 2025, Israel’s Mossad orchestrated a similarly bold strike, dubbed Rising Lion, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. Mossad agents, operating covertly within Iran, established drone bases near Tehran and smuggled precision weapons to dismantle air defenses and eliminate key figures, including Revolutionary Guards commanders and at least one senior nuclear scientist. Allow me to emphasize, the drone attacks came from within Russia and from within Iran.

These operations quite possibly signal a new era of warfare: patient, subversive infiltration by committed adversaries willing to play the long game.

The United States—due to years of lax borders and insufficient oversight of foreign land purchases—is alarmingly vulnerable to such tactics, especially from a strategic rival like China, whose land acquisitions near U.S. military bases pose a clear risk.

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Russian forces discover cache of Ukrainian chemical drone munitions – FSB

Russian troops have discovered a makeshift chemical lab and vials containing banned toxins at a former Ukrainian hideout in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Tuesday. The cache, found near the village of Ilyinka during an advance by Russian forces, marks the second such discovery this year, the agency said.

In footage released by the FSB, personnel in chemical protection gear are seen handling the vials, which reportedly contain chloropicrin – a choking agent prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention. According to the agency, the substances were packaged with plastic explosives and rigged into improvised munitions designed to be dropped from drones.

“This year we have discovered two caches with munitions intended for drone strikes on Russian positions. These munitions were a mix of chloropicrin and plastic explosives, to maximize the area of effect,” an FSB officer stated.

The official further claimed that the use of prohibited warfare methods by Ukrainian forces has become “commonplace,” recalling prior discoveries of a lab for producing hydrogen cyanide in May 2024 and a chloropicrin stockpile uncovered last October.

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SoCal Police to Use Drones to Catch Illegal Fireworks on July 4

Police in fire-ravaged Southern California, plan to use drones to catch people who use illegal fireworks on and around the Fourth of July celebrations.

While many, even in California, might ordinarily balk at the use of drones for surveillance and law enforcement, the fact that recent Los Angeles wildfires could have been sparked by illegal fireworks means that many communities are on edge entering Independence Day week.

The Pasadena Star-News reports:

Revelers who once could illegally ignite fireworks and scatter before police officers arrive or who suffer from collective amnesia when questioned about who lit the fuse may still find themselves lighter in the wallet. For the first time in parts of Southern California, stealthy aerial surveillance will attempt to nab them in the act.

Riverside, Hemet and Brea, and possibly other cities, will launch drones to film illegal activity as municipalities increasingly marry new technology with old-fashioned legislation to prevent injuries and the type of fast-moving fires that devastated the region in January.

Offenders or their landlords will then receive a surprise: Those cities are mailing citations to property owners, in some cases without ever first contacting them, regardless of whether they were present when the fireworks sparkled, smoked or skyrocketed.

While the Eaton Fire, which erupted in Pasadena and Altadena on January 7, was likely caused by faulty power lines, the Palisades Fire on the other side of town was likely caused by a reignited fire that originally started on New Year’s Day due to illegal fireworks, local residents believe.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s office issued a warning: “The sale, transport, or use of fireworks without the ‘Office of the State Fire Marshal Safe and Sane’ seal is illegal, as is possessing or using any fireworks in communities where they are not allowed. Violators face potential fines up to $50,000 as well as a year in jail.”

The governor’s office said that 600,000 pounds of illegal fireworks had been seized in 2025 thus far.

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Israel and Ukraine Used Smuggled Drones To Wreak Havoc on Their Enemies. Could China Do the Same?

A covert Israeli drone base secretly installed in the heart of Iran. More than 100 Ukrainian remote-controlled military aircraft smuggled deep into Russia, concealed under wooden sheds. Israel and Ukraine have activated these assets to devastating effect over the past year, decimating the Iranian military command and crippling Russia’s Air Force—all with a flip of a switch.

The stunningly successful asymmetric attacks have some experts wondering: Could China, America’s “number one geopolitical foe” in the words of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, be laying the groundwork to do the same in the United States?

“Mossad did this in secret. The Chinese Communist Party is doing it openly,” warned Michael Sobolik, a veteran China analyst with the Hudson Institute. “The mullahs in Iran had no idea. Putin had no idea. But we know, and we have no excuse. Do we have the political will and the self respect to make sure we can survive in a crisis?”

Several China experts told the Washington Free Beacon that the United States has left the door wide open for its communist adversary to establish a foothold in the country. Top of mind for many is the Chinese-owned farmland adjacent to at least 19 military bases across the United States, which Craig Singleton, a senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, described as the elephant in the room following Israel’s covert strikes against Iran.

“Letting firms or individuals with CCP ties buy property next to U.S. bases hands Beijing the hardest part of that playbook—the forward staging area—no smuggling required,” Singleton told the Free Beacon. “A prudent policy starts with the assumption that a determined, tech-savvy adversary will exploit every acre it controls.”

The threats, however, go far beyond Chinese-owned farmland. Former FBI director Christopher Wray warned in a speech last April that China has been laying the groundwork to “physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing.”

That includes America’s shipping ports, which are almost entirely reliant on automated cranes manufactured by ZPMC, a Chinese state-owned military contractor. A joint congressional investigation in 2024 discovered unauthorized cellular modems embedded in some of those cranes, potentially giving China the ability to remotely shut down U.S. ports and wreak havoc on America’s food chains and manufacturing capabilities.

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Russia Launches Another Massive Drone Strike On Kyiv

The Russian Federation launched another massive drone and missile strike on the nation of Ukraine today in the ongoing war; over 400 drones, and 40 missiles were used, according to local news reports.

Many of the attacks appear to have targeted civilian infrastructure, as Russia pressures the Ukrainian population.

There is no moral authority on either side, as targeting civilians has become a feature of this war for both combatants.

Ukraine continues its ‘mobilization’, further traumatizing the population, as the draft age appears to have been reduced to 18 as Ukraine runs out of soldiers.

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