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The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, announced on November 16 that it had launched two drone attacks against “vital targets” in the southernmost Israeli city of Eilat.
The group announced the attacks separately, and said in three other statements that it had also attacked two “military targets” in southern Israel and another in the north of the country.
The five attacks were carried out “in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity [Israel] against civilians, including children, women, and the elderly” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, the group said in its statements, vowing that “operations against enemy strongholds will continue at an increasing pace.”
Video footage released by the group showed the launch of what appears to be at least five Iranian-made Shahed-101 suicide drones.
The Shahed-101 is said to have a range of 900 kilometers and a cruising speed of 120 kilometers per hour with a warhead weighing eight kilograms.
Just a few hours before the IRI announced the attacks, warning sirens sounded in Eilat. The Israeli Defense Forces said that the sirens were off by a drone launched “from the east,” a term it usually uses for Iraq. The drone crashed before crossing into Israeli territory, according to the military. No losses were reported.
The IRI began carrying out attacks against Israel as well as against United States forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria last October in response to the Israeli all-out war on Gaza. The group escalated its attacks against Israel in September in response to Israel’s ongoing aerial campaign and ground operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has not responded directly to the IRI’s attacks yet. Nevertheless, recent reports suggest that the IDF may be planning an attack on Iraq.
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