ERBIL, Aug. 20 -- Two drones came in from the Iranian border on Monday and struck the private office of the man who runs Iraq's Kurdistan Region, along with the residence of his intelligence chief. Nobody was killed. Masrour Barzani called it reckless and unacceptable, and by Wednesday he was explaining to an interviewer why the systems that have been intercepting such things are being packed up.

The United States has been removing its Patriot air defence batteries from the Kurdistan Region as it withdraws the last of its forces from Iraq. Al-Monitor first reported in late July that the batteries had already gone, with sources describing the pullout as routine and consistent with the September 30 deadline agreed with Baghdad. Speaking to...