Six other French troops were wounded. The fatality immediately intensified questions about the safety of hundreds of European military personnel scattered across northern Iraq on counterterrorism missions that now sit squarely in the crosshairs of Iranian retaliation.

Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion, 42, served with the 7th Battalion of Chasseurs Alpins, a mountain infantry unit stationed in Varces, France. He was killed when drones hit a base at Mala Qara, roughly 25 miles southwest of Erbil, where French troops were training alongside Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. The six wounded soldiers were moved to a nearby medical facility, the French military said.