The night sky over Erbil, capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, turned into a battlefield as a series of explosions thundered across the city, followed by intense bursts of anti‑aircraft fire that lit up the horizon, security and local sources say.

Residents reported at least four powerful blasts near the city’s outskirts shortly after 11:00 p.m. local time, shaking apartment blocks and shattering windows in several neighbourhoods. Phone videos show bright flashes to the east and south of Erbil, then red tracer rounds and surface‑to‑air missiles streaking upward as Kurdish and coalition air defences scrambled to engage suspected drones or missiles.

Kurdish officials say the initial impacts struck close to a cluster of security installations and a logistics area used by Western forces, without immediately confirming the origin of the incoming fire. Sirens briefly sounded around the sprawling US consulate complex as helicopters circled overhead and armoured vehicles raced toward the blast zones.

In a carefully worded statement, the Kurdistan Regional Government condemned “cowardly attacks on Erbil and its partners,” while pledging that its air‑defence units would “respond to any hostile aerial threat.” Hospitals report a number of wounded by glᴀss and debris, but no confirmed fatalities so far.

For ordinary Erbil residents, long told their city was a rare safe haven in a turbulent region, the message is deeply unsettling: the anti‑aircraft tracers arcing over their rooftops and the distant booms on the horizon are a stark sign that the wider regional conflict is now uncomfortably close to home.