A Turkish drone crashed Friday in the Nahla Valley of northern Iraq, according to eyewitnesses, sparking fires across an estimated 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) of Assyrian agricultural land. Earlier reports had attributed the blaze to an airstrike.
Locals managed to extinguish the flames using firefighting equipment donated by the Shlama Foundation, including air blowers, fire vests, water pumps, and oxygen masks.
The crash revived memories of a major fire in the valley two years ago, when a Turkish airstrike ignited large swaths of farmland.
At the time, residents struggled to contain the blaze without proper equipment, and calls for assistance went unanswered. The Dohuk administration lacks the capacity to respond to such emergencies, a Nahla resident told the Journal.
Without oxygen masks or protective gear, villagers were forced to cut down trees and clear brush to stop the spread of the flames.
“If people were equipped with firefighting gear in the villages, they would have been able to save a lot of land, they would have been able to put out the fires and solve the issues themselves a lot sooner,” said Jenny Korkes, an Assyrian who was living in Erbil during the 2021 fire. “We can’t have strong communities and power if we don’t have the infrastructure and the resources to protect ourselves.”
In the aftermath of that fire, locals partnered with the Shlama Foundation and donors from the diaspora to raise funds for firefighting kits.
The Nahla Valley consists of eight Assyrian villages with a combined population of around 800 people — down dramatically from what was once estimated to be in the tens of thousands. Years of Turkish bombings, PKK militant activity, and limited job prospects have pushed families to leave for larger cities.
Turkish drones and fighter jets are a familiar presence in the region. For years, Turkey has carried out regular military operations in northern Iraq against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, which Ankara deems a terrorist organization.
Turkey’s broader campaign has included the construction of new military bases, the clearing of forests for road access, and repeated airstrikes that have displaced residents and forced entire villages to empty out.
