ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of #Iraq (March 19) — The faint braaaap from the sky sounded like a deck of cards riffled against a steel file.

The following #explosion tumbled, west to east, across the night. The group - Christopher and some half-dozen #Kurdish businessmen gathered at a neighborhood mosque - paused their chat and looked up.

"Boom," said Salih Albarzinja, an Erbil businessman who owns one of the largest travel agencies in the region. His tone was casual and he sounded unfazed by the aerial #explosion of the drone that was likely targeting the U.S. #airbase next to Erbil's international #airport.

But every #drone launched by #Iranian-backed militias targeting U.S. facilities might as well be a bullet to his bank account. His business has come to a standstill thanks to the war next door in Iran.
"Now our profit is zero," he says glumly. "I've lost a lot of money."

Three weeks into the war, the economy of #Iraqi #Kurdistan, a relative island of stability in a turbulent region since the Iraq #War, is reeling. Across Erbil, merchants and #businessmen say the war is freezing the economy, shutting airports, draining #dollars and leaving a region that depends on foreign investment cut off from the outside world.

Find out more about how the closure of Erbil International #Airport and the surrounding conflict are paralyzing the region's economy by clicking the link! https://www.iranwar.news/p/kurdish-economy-squeezed-from-all