ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Thursday "strongly" condemned a bout of drone attacks on Erbil that occurred the night prior, calling them "malicious" and vowing to "exert every effort" to prevent their recurrence, in coordination with Kurdistan Region authorities.

The Erbil-based Counterterrorism Directorate announced on Wednesday night that the US-led Global Coalition had downed eight "bomb-laden" drones operating in the airspace above the Kurdistan Region capital, which has been repeatedly targeted by Iran and Iran-aligned Iraqi militias amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Since assuming office, Zaidi has made assiduous efforts to clamp down on the prevalence of militias in the country and restrict weapons to the hands of the state.

"In line with our constitutional responsibility, we strongly condemn the drone attack that violated the airspace over the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq," Zaidi's office said in a statement.

 "We will not tolerate these malicious attempts, which seek in vain to undermine the stability of our people and their determined path toward state-building and civil peace."

The premier on Tuesday met with US President Donald Trump in Washington, where he received a warm endorsement from a gushing Trump.

However, his visit drew the ire of the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of pro-Iran militias, who rejected the "heinous crimes" perpetrated by the US and Israel during the war, and Trump's uncouth comments on his first administration's 2020 assassination of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Commission (PMC) Chairman Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis drew a sharp response from the deceased figure's family, who accused Zaidi of deflecting in his response.

The armed drone activity on Wednesday night mirrors the myriad attacks conducted by Iranian proxies in Iraq over the course of the war, many of whom have rebuffed the premier's call to hand over their weapons and integrate within the state security forces.

"We have directed the competent security agencies, in coordination with the security forces in the Kurdistan Region, to exert every effort and take all necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such attacks," the statement from the prime minister's office concluded.

The Wednesday drone activity broke the hiatus in hostile drone activity in Erbil proper since the collapse of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was signed on June 17, though intermittent strikes have continued to target Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region.

In May, Tehran declared the Kurdistan Region a site of “hostile bases” under its security doctrine, warning that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had been given the same designation, making both subject to preemptive strikes.

Iran's consul general in Erbil, Faramarz Asadi, told The New Region on Sunday that Tehran has “never” attacked the Kurdistan Region, insisting its strikes have targeted only Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.