A French soldier was killed on Friday in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, in a rare deadly attack against France's military assets in the region.
Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion, 43, was killed while taking part in a decade-old mission in Iraq to train Iraq soldiers, France said.
It is the first death of a French soldier since the start of the US and Israel's war against Iran on February 28 and the regional escalation of the conflict.
The killing comes after a pro-Iranian armed group warned of further attacks against French interests in the Middle East.
However France has been at pains to highlight that its soldiers are not involved in the conflict.
'Unacceptable'
The father of one “died for France” while stationed in the Erbil region, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on social media. “This attack against our forces engaged in the fight against [ISIS] since 2015 is unacceptable,” he added.
The presence of French soldiers in Iraq is “strictly within the framework of the fight against terrorism”, he said. “The war in Iran cannot justify such attacks.”
The French Defence Ministry said that one drone was involved in the attack on an Iraqi Kurdish base in Mala Qara, Makhmour, about 40km south-west of Erbil.
Seven soldiers were hurt, including Chief Warrant Officer Frion, who died "despite rapid treatment by the medical teams present," the ministry said. The six other soldiers are to be repatriated to France.
"The French detachment present on site is conducting training activities for several Iraqi units, in support of the fight against terrorism, within the framework of Operation Inherent Resolve," the statement said.
Stark warning
France has reoriented its troops in the region, including in Iraq, since the start of the Iran war.
A representative of the military declined to give further details and said an investigation was continuing to determine what kind of drone was used in the attack that killed Chief Warrant Officer Frion. It remains unclear whether France was deliberately attacked.
An Iranian-backed Iraqi group, called Ashab Al Kahf, said on Friday it would target “all French interests in Iraq and region”. The warning followed the stationing of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Eastern Mediterranean.
“Following the arrival of France's aircraft carrier in the area of operations of the US Central Command and its involvement in operations, we declare from this night that all French interests in Iraq and the region will be targeted,” said the group in a statement on Telegram.
Ashab Al Kahf urged residents to stay at least 500 metres away from a base in Iraqi Kurdistan where French troops are stationed, without directly claiming responsibility for any attacks.
An Italian base in Erbil was targeted by a drone strike on Thursday but no casualties were reported.
Nechirvan Barzani, the President of Iraqi Kurdistan, expressed his solidarity with France.
He said on social media that he reaffirmed during a call with Mr Macron the need for Baghdad to "set limits on outlaw groups".
"We further emphasised the importance of intensifying efforts to end the war and achieve a peaceful resolution to the crises in the region," Mr Barzani said.
The attack risks drawing France further into the wider regional conflict, despite Mr Macron repeatedly saying that his country is acting solely to defend itself and its partners. The last time a French soldier was killed on duty in Iraq was in 2023 in an operation claimed by ISIS.
Authorities in the Kurdistan Regional Government said the region has beens heavily affected by the confrontation between US, Israel and Iran.
"The widening geographic scope of the strikes, the involvement of foreign military personnel, and the impact on civilian areas have heightened concerns about regional stability, civilian safety, and the risk of further escalation in the coming days and weeks," an official told The National.
'Composure and calm'
In a news conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mr Macron vowed to "continue to demonstrate composure, calm, determination, and reliability towards our partners, to protect our citizens, and to defend our interests and security".
France was among the first countries to deploy air defences in Gulf states to help them defend themselves in the face of Iranian ballistic and drone attacks after the US and Israel jointly launched an offensive on Iran on January 28.
Since 2015, French forces have been stationed in the region as part of an international coalition against ISIS. Their presence in Iraq is part of what the French military calls Operation Chammal. They provide training and air support to local military forces.
The Monsaber task force trains the 6th Infantry Brigade of Baghdad responsible for the protection of the city. The Narvik mission specialises in anti-terrorism while the Lamassu mission trains desert battalions over four to six weeks. A first cycle of two years was renewed in November at Iraq's request.
Paris also currently heads the Nato mission in Iraq which has several hundred military personnel, mostly from Europe, deployed to train Iraqi security forces.
There are 950 military personnel engaged in Operation Chammal in Iraq, according to the French Ministry of Defence. The exact number of French soldiers in Iraq is not publicly available.
Chief Warrant Officer Frion belonged to the 7th Alpine Chasseurs Battalion in Varces in south-east France. He belonged to a paratrooper commando group which brings together the best soldiers of his regiment. He had distinguished himself during deployments in Afghanistan and Mali, the French army said. He had been stationed in Iraq since January 24.
Despite his death, it is understood that France is expected to keep troops in Iraq. France has in total sent eight frigates from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea since the start of the war and is working on setting up with partners including Europeans, Asian and Gulf countries a naval mission that could escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has not formally announced the closure of the Strait but has attacked ships using the narrow, strategic passageway, causing oil prices to soar.
