Iraqi armed groups continue to announce attacks on Israel, this time claiming to have struck Haifa, an important Israeli port city in the Mediterranean, with cruise missiles.
Iraqi Islamic Resistance (Iraqi), an Iraqi militia, confirmed in a statement in the early hours of January 7 that it had attacked an important target in the Israeli city of Haifa over the past few days, using al-Arqab advanced long-range cruise missiles.
In its statement, the Iraqi resistance group further confirmed that the attack was carried out "in support of our compatriots in Gaza and in response to the massacre perpetrated by the entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women and the elderly". The resistance also stressed that it "will continue to target enemy strongholds" and promised more operations.
Screenshot of a video released by the Iraqi Resistance that launched a cruise missile
Statement by the Iraqi resistance
The Iraqi Islamic Resistance Group also released a video of the missile launch, but did not disclose more information.
Among Iranian-backed overseas forces, Yemen's Houthis and Lebanese Allah have displayed cruise missiles, but Iraq's factional militias have not previously displayed similar missile weapons. This is the first time the group has claimed to have attacked the Israeli city of Haifa, and it is also the first time that the group has claimed to have long-range cruise missiles.
The Port of Haifa is located at the northern tip of Israel's western coast, bordering the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea, and is Israel's largest port. Israel and the United States did not respond to the incident, and photos circulating on social media claimed that an explosion occurred in the Israeli city of Haifa, but this was also not confirmed.
In addition to attacking Israel, the Islamic Resistance Group announced on January 7 that it had launched drone strikes on the Assad Air Base in Anbar Province in western Iraq and a U.S. military base in the Qasrok area of Syria's Hasakah governorate, as well as strikes on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The situation in Iraq remains tense. Pentagon spokesman Ryder said on the 4th that the US military launched an airstrike in Baghdad on the same day, killing Mushtak, commander of the 12th Brigade of the "Popular Mobilization Organization". Ryder said the target had been "actively involved in planning and carrying out attacks on U.S. forces" and that the U.S. military strikes were "in self-defense" and that "there were no civilian casualties." Reuters said the attack killed four people, including a senior commander of the group, and injured many others.
At an event held on the same day to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of Muhandis, deputy commander of the "Popular Mobilization Organization", and Soleimani, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, by US air strikes (both of whom were killed by US forces in 2020), Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Sudani said in a speech that Iraq has complete sovereignty over the land and air space within its territory, and he angrily denounced the US air strikes as "blatant aggression" and "dangerously escalated" the situation. Al-Sudani also said that he had "confirmed the firm position of permanently ending the presence of the international coalition forces, because the rationale for the presence of the coalition forces in Iraq has ended."
This article is an exclusive manuscript of Observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.