TEHRAN - The Iraqi resistance has increased operations against vital Israeli interests with Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport being the latest target.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-American resistance factions, says the operation against Ben Gurion Airport is part of a “second phase”, which has seen a number of attacks against sensitive Israeli sites over the past week. 

In a statement, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said its forces targeted the International Israeli Airport on Monday night “deep inside the usurping entity with an unmanned aerial vehicle”. 

The statement added: "We affirm our continuation in striking the enemy strongholds, completing the second phase of resistance operations against the (Israeli) occupation, supporting our people in Gaza, and responding to Zionist massacres against innocent Palestinian civilians.” 

During the first phase of operations, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq also targeted scores of American bases in Iraq and Syria, where they are considered part of an illegal U.S. occupation. 

The U.S. complicity in the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza saw the Iraqi resistance target U.S. bases at least 165 times. 

The attacks added pressure on the Iraqi government to speed up the call for the withdrawal of American troops from the country. 

Baghdad has since been engaged in negotiations with the United States in a bid to end the presence of American troops in Iraq, which the Iraqi government has described as a source of instability. 

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein confirmed in an interview this week that the talks are ongoing. 

Nevertheless, the Iraqi resistance pledged to transition its operations to a second phase that has seen vital Israeli interests being targeted over the past week. 

The latest operations have been accompanied by footage of the projectiles being launched and statements underlining that the “second phase” is in “support of the Palestinians” and in response to “the Zionist massacres against innocent civilians in Gaza”. 

Last Friday, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq put out a statement in which it announced an attack targeting “military information base 1” in the northern Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, using UAVs. 

On the same day, the Iraqi resistance said its fighters used drones to target the oil refineries in the Israeli city of Haifa off the Mediterranean Sea. 

On Thursday, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced that it had “targeted a military base at (the Israeli) Rosh Pina Airport” in north western Israel with a number of UAVs. 

Also, on Thursday, the umbrella group said that it had targeted the Kiryat Shmona airport with a suicide drone. 

Among other notable operations earlier last week, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted the power station at Haifa airport, using an attack drone. 

That operation came on the backdrop of another attack that targeted a chemical substance terminal in the port of Haifa. 

According to the footage released of the operations being launched, which tend to include a handwritten note in front of the camera with a date, most of the operations during the “second phase” have been staged with different types of UAVs. 

Iraqis view the U.S. as directly complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, increasing demands for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from their land. 

The Iraqi resistance has confirmed its “commitment to relentlessly striking the enemy’s strongholds,” as long as the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip persists.

A senior military official with the resistance pointed out that the second phase of operations would include the enforcement of a blockade on “Zionist maritime navigation in the Mediterranean” and “putting Israeli ports out of service.” 

Tel Aviv has already come under regular maritime attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Ansarullah, who has vowed to continue targeting Israeli vessels sailing the waters in solidarity with Gaza. 

Before its operations entered a “second phase”, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq staged attacks on vital Israeli interests most notably on the port of Haifa and the Karish offshore gas field in the Mediterranean Sea. 

A rise in Iraqi resistance operations against Israeli interests, especially in Haifa and its port with the goal of “enforcing a blockade” in the Mediterranean could potentially see an almost total naval embargo enforced on the Israeli regime. 

Experts say Tel Aviv has become heavily dependent on Haifa Port, where an estimated 90% of shipping imports are now docking. 

The Ansarullah blockade on Israeli and Israeli-linked vessels transiting the Red Sea has already seen extensive damage to the Israeli economy.