The Arqab cruise missile as seen in a photo previously released by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, announced on July 19 that it had fired an Arqab land-attack cruise missile at a “military target” in the northern Israeli port city 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 its operations against Israel will continue.
The IRI also released video footage showing the launch of the Arqab missile, which is said to be a derivative of the Iranian-made Paveh. The missile is powered by a turbo-jet engine and has a range of at least 1,650 kilometers.
On the day of the attack, the Israeli Defense Forces announced that its fighter jets intercepted an aerial target that was heading toward Israel from the eastern direction, likely originating from Iraq. The target may have been the cruise missile launched by the IRI.
The IRI’s missile attack on Haifa coincided with a drone strike on Tel Aviv city that was launched from Yemen by the Houthis (Ansar Allah), who are also backed by Iran. The strike claimed the life of a man and left at least eight others wounded.
The IRI began launching attacks against Israel as well as against United States forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria on October 17 in response to the Israeli war on Gaza -which broke out just ten days earlier- and Washington’s unwavering support for it.
The group suspended attacks against U.S. forces last February after the death of three American troops in a drone strike on a base in Jordan, reportedly upon a request from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Nevertheless, it escalated attacks against Israel starting from March.
Israel has not openly responded to the IRI’s attacks yet. However, it 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 Gaza. Iraqi fighters were killed in some of these strikes.
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