ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The drone strikes on the Kurdistan Region’s oil facilities are a “dangerous escalation” that risks fueling disputes between Erbil and Baghdad, especially with shaky payments of the Kurdistan Region’s public sector salaries, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.
The Kurdistan Region has come under nearly 20 rocket and drone attacks in recent weeks, including strikes on its oil fields. The Kurdish government has blamed Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi) for the attacks - charges strongly denied as “unacceptable” by Baghdad.
“The drone strikes mark a dangerous escalation in a long-running dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the control and distribution of oil revenues. As part of this dispute, Baghdad has been withholding funds for the regional government’s public sector salaries since May,” HRW said in a report, urging both governments to investigate and prevent further attacks.
The strikes have badly damaged the Kurdistan Region’s oil infrastructure, halting production in some fields entirely and cutting total output by about 70 percent.
No group has claimed responsibility, and there have been no new attacks since a new agreement was reached between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) earlier this month.
“Ultimately, it is the civilians in Kurdistan who are paying the heaviest price,” Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at HRW, told Rudaw on Tuesday. “Damage to Kurdistan's oil facilities has taken around 70 percent of production offline, which not only impacts the government's ability to fund itself through oil revenues, but also puts the right to electricity at risk, meaning less fuel for the people.”
Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff to Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, said earlier this month that the region has lost nearly 200,000 barrels of oil production due to what he described as “a spate of drone attacks by criminal militias on the Iraqi government payroll.”
The drone strikes also threaten the region’s broader energy infrastructure and residents’ access to electricity.
The Khor Mor gas field in Sulaimani province, which supplies most of the Kurdistan Region’s power generation, has been hit by drones at least nine times since 2023, including an attack in February 2025. A strike in April 2024 killed four workers and halted production for nearly a week. Despite pledges by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to investigate, authorities have yet to publish findings or hold anyone accountable, HRW said.
The international community has largely condemned the attacks.
The rights organization also condemned Baghdad’s repeated suspension of public sector salaries in the Kurdistan Region, “using payments as leverage to force concessions in negotiations over oil revenues.”
For more than a decade, the federal government has at times withheld salaries from Kurdistan Region’s public workers, while federal employees elsewhere in Iraq have continued to receive theirs. Kurdish officials accuse Baghdad of politicizing the issue; Iraqi authorities say the KRG has failed to meet financial obligations under the constitution.
Baghdad’s freeze on salaries has hurt the quality and delivery of essential services like healthcare and education, Sanbar said.
“We've seen an increase in what's known as dual practice,” she explained. “Doctors spend only a few hours in public hospitals and then move to private clinics for the rest of the day.” As a result, only those who can afford private care receive adequate healthcare - undermining a constitutional guarantee, she added.
Sanbar noted a similar pattern in education. “Teachers have increasingly gone on strike because their salaries haven’t been paid. And when teachers go on strike, it’s children who are left out of school.”
“Ultimately, doctors and teachers aren’t the ones responsible for this problem,” she stressed.
The salary crisis has also hit local businesses, with 40 to 60 percent of the workforce employed in the public sector, meaning many families have cut spending.
“This leads to desperation, rising poverty, and growing anger toward Baghdad, which most Kurdish people see as responsible for their suffering,” Sanbar said.
Earlier this month, the KRG and Baghdad finalized a deal aimed at resolving disputes over oil exports and financial transfers, though officials on both sides continue to blame each other for delays in implementing it.
Baghdad has sent funds to cover May salaries, but payments for June and July remain pending.
Shahyan Tahseen contributed to this report.
