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The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, announced on September 22 that it had attacked four targets in northern and southern Israel, including a base of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the Jordan Valley, with cruise missiles and suicide drones.
The attack were carried out “in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity [Israel] against civilians, including children, women, and the elderly” in the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, the group said in separate 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 an Iranian-made Shahed-101 suicide drone, at the Jordan Valley. Aside from having a range of several hundred kilometers, not much is known about the relatively small drone.
The group also said that some of the other targets were struck with Arqab cruise missiles. Arqab is said to be a derivative of the Iranian-made Paveh. The missile has a range of at least 1,650 kilometers.
From its side, the IDF announced that two cruise missiles launched from Iraq were shot down as they headed toward the southern part of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Both targets were intercepted outside of Israeli airspace.
A drone from Iraq was also intercepted as it headed toward southern Israel, setting off sirens in the settlements of Be’er Ora, close to the Red Sea port of Eilat, according to the IDF, which also said that the target was also shot down before managing to enter Israeli airspace.
The IDF also said that another drone that entered Israeli airspace from the eastern direction was shot down by air defenses over the southern part of Golan.
Sirens had sounded in several settlements due to fears of falling shrapnel. There was no damage or injuries in the incident. The drone was likely launched from Iraq.
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 war on Gaza.
Since then, the group has launched dozens of attacks against Israel using suicide drones and cruise missiles. None of the attacks has resulted in casualties, however.
While Israel has not openly responded to the IRI’s attacks yet, the country was blamed for several strikes that targeted Iran-backed armed factions along the Syrian-Iraqi border and near the Syrian capital, Damascus, after the start of the war in the Strip. Iraqi fighters and commanders were killed in some of these strikes.
The IRI’s latest attacks were likely a response to a suspected Israeli strike that killed a senior military commander of Kata’ib Hezbollah near Damascus on September 20. Kata’ib Hezbollah is thought to be one of the key factions of the group.
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keep sending ‘gifts’. the us doesn’t have unlimited supplies of interceptors, one of the reasons israel wants a confrontation now, not later. how long can israel survive when the iron dome has only empty launchers? then they will be easy targets for even bottle rockets. israeli desperation is becoming very evident. houthis should start targeting only air bases. it would be great if israel launches air attacks, but have no where to land.
yep more of the same! the jews are defending an almost bankrupt illegally occupied palestine and are bound to be beaten till the point that fleeing is the only alternative. not to be missed except the us kongress will miss the bribes the jews so generously been handing out (even if the bribes mostly consist of us taxpayers taxes).