The Kurdish people are an ethnic minority group in the Middle East without an independent state.

Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran, and the U.S. has asked Iraqi Kurds to support them, Kurdish officials have told The Associated Press.

Already Iran and allied Iraqi militias have launched dozens of missiles and drone attacks into northern Iraq, targeting the U.S. bases and consulate in Irbil as well as bases of the Iranian Kurdish dissident groups.

The frequency of attacks by Iran-backed groups is extremely high - residents in Erbil hear booms almost hourly,' said Iraq political analyst Lawk Ghafuri.

On a deserted road not too far from the border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan, Satar Barsirini looked up at the sky, now streaked with jets and

Though tied by a strong Kurdish identity and goals of increased cultural and political autonomy, Kurdistan is fractured both along state and political lines.

Kurdish forces in Iraq are preparing for a potential operation in Iran with US support, amid a historic coalition of Iranian Kurdish groups seeking self-determination. The Kurdistan Region Government refutes claims of involvement in US military plans against Iran.

Drone and missile attacks targeting sites in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil and Sulaimani provinces late Saturday and early Sunday killed two people and wounded others, authorities said.