ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Saraya Awliya al-Dam, a pro-Iran militia group, said it targeted the US military presence in Erbil on Sunday evening with a salvo of drones to avenge Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli campaign the night prior.

"In fulfillment of our religious duty and in retaliation for the blood of the guardian of God, the martyred leader, Imam Ali Khamenei, and in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran, our valiant mujahideen launched an attack today with a swarm of drones on American bases in Erbil," the group said in a statement.

Shortly before the pro-Iran faction's statement, several loud booms were heard near Erbil International Airport, followed by plumes of smoke in the sky, as air defense systems intercepted the projectiles. 

Erbil airport houses US troops stationed in Erbil, and has been the target of repeated strikes since the breakout of violence between Iran and the US and Israel.

The US and Israel on Saturday morning launched a large-scale military offensive across Iran. The strikes have killed Khamenei, in addition to several other top Iranian officials. The offensive came following months of escalating tensions between the two sides. 

Earlier in the day, the same group also claimed responsibility for another attack on American troops stationed in Erbil on Sunday morning, calling it "a fulfillment of our religious duty."

Following the launch of the US and Israel's strikes against Iran, several Iraqi militia groups backed by the Islamic republic have asserted their willingness to strike regional US military bases.
 
Kataib Hezbollah, a salient pro-Iran actor in Iraq, said Saturday that they will "soon begin targeting American bases in response to their aggression," with one of the group's installations being targeted by an unknown airstrike on the same day, killing two.

Saraya Awliya al-Dam has targeted US forces on the site in the past, having claimed responsibility for a series of rocket strikes in 2021 that came as part of a vengeance campaign for the US assassination of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis the year prior.

Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani said Sunday that the United States and Israel have “set the heart of the Iranian nation ablaze,” after Khamenei was killed, vowing that Tehran will strike its enemies “with a force never seen before.”

On Sunday, the US army announced that three service members had been killed and five others were seriously wounded in the recent escalations with Iran. 

Khamenei, 86, from Mashhad, was Iran’s highest political and religious authority for nearly 37 years, marking the longest-serving leader since the Islamic Revolution.
 
He was a leading opponent of the US and Israel, advancing the Islamic Republic’s ideology by supporting regional proxies against both countries, and calling for their elimination.