ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Musa Rasul and his wife Mujda Hassan were spending Monday night at home in a rural village north of Erbil, Little did they know, a drone was hovering overhead, one that would soon strike and kill them, ripping an innocent family apart and leaving their children orphaned. 

The Kurdistan Region has faced daily drone and missile strikes since the onset of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The attacks took a darker turn early Tuesday when a drone struck a remote village in Darashakran subdistrict, north of Erbil city and far from any military bases. 

As the rubble cleared, the lifeless bodies of a married couple were uncovered, after their bedroom was directly hit. They are survived by their two young children. 

The New Region spoke to Rasul’s brother - his voice heavy with grief - who stressed that he “was not taking part in the war, nor was he on duty,” as he was an off-duty Peshmerga fighter. 

“I saw it with my own eyes, when it [the drone] hit his home,” he said, explaining that when he reached Rasul’s house, “they were not there anymore, their bodies were torn apart.”

The Kurdistan Region has repeatedly stressed that it is not part of the ongoing conflict and will not be drawn into it.

But Iran and pro-Iran Iraqi militias have ignored Kurdistan’s calls, carrying out daily strikes under the pretext of the presence of US interests and Iranian Kurdish opposition groups. 

While mourning, Rasul’s brother remembered another brother of theirs who fell in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) years prior. 

The New Region also spoke to Hassan’s father, who accused the perpetrators of killing civilians “in villages, remote villages with no connection to them.”

“They are sitting in their own homes, and you fire rockets at them. What have they done to you?” he exclaimed. 

Footage from the aftermath of the drone strike shows nursing bottles and children’s toys scattered among the debris of the couple’s home, depicting the quiet family life forever torn apart.

“They are the martyrs of Kurdistan,” Rasul’s mother lamented, her words carrying both pride and heartbreak as she mourned her dead son. 

The Kurdistan Region’s counterterrorism service said the explosive-laden drone was “launched from Iran,” denouncing it as a “violation of international law and a war crime.”

Kurdish authorities have issued strongly-worded statements denouncing the strike. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani slammed it as a “war crime,” asserting that the repeated attacks on the Kurdistan Region are carried out on “baseless pretexts.”

President Masoud Barzani also said an Iranian drone was behind the attack, calling it “the height of criminality and oppression” against the Kurdistan Region’s citizens. 

Erbil has been struck by more than 500 missiles and drones since the onset of the Iran war, resulting in at least 16 dead, dozens injured, and heavy material damage, Governor Omed Khoshnaw said on Thursday.