Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, announced on September 4 that it had carried out a drone attack against the Israeli Mediterranean port of Haifa.
The attack was 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 a statement, vowing that “operations against enemy strongholds will continue at an increasing pace.”
Following the IRI announcement, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a brief statement that a drone heading toward Israel from the eastern direction was shot down by air defenses overnight. The drone didn’t enter Israeli airspace, according to the military.
The IDF usually uses the term “eastern direction” to refer to projectiles launched from Iraq, which indicate that the drone intercepted overnight was the one launched by the IRI at the port of Haifa.
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 and Washington’s unwavering support for it.
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 were killed in some of these strikes.
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