Adjutant General Arnaud Frion of the 7th Alpine Jaeger Battalion was killed during an attack on a military base near Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, French President Emmanuel Macron announced.
“I want to express the nation's gratitude and solidarity to his family and comrades. Several of our soldiers were injured. France is with them and their loved ones“, he wrote in an email.
Macron called the attack on French forces fighting ISIS unacceptable.
“Their presence in Iraq is solely within the framework of the fight against terrorism. The war in Iran cannot serve as a justification for such attacks”, added the French president.
Six French soldiers were injured in an Iranian drone attack on a military base near Erbil, the provincial governor, Omed Khoshnau, said earlier, as quoted by Rudaw.
Four of the wounded were hospitalized. According to Khoshnau, all the victims suffered minor injuries. “There are reports that two more people may have been injured, but this has not yet been confirmed“, he added.
Rudaw specifies that the French soldiers were at a joint base between the international coalition and Kurdish forces, where they were training local fighters.
On March 12, the Italian Ministry of Defense reported nighttime airstrikes against an Italian base in Erbil. There were no casualties among Italian troops, the ministry stressed.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crocetto spoke of a missile strike. However, Hoschnau later said that debris from a downed drone had fallen near the Italian base in Erbil.