TEHRAN - The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has expanded its operations against the Israeli occupation regime, staging five attacks in less than 24 hours against Israeli sites in solidarity with Gaza.

In a statement, accompanied by video footage of the operation, published on Thursday, the Iraqi resistance movement said it had targeted the Israeli city of Eilat, also known as Umm al-Rashrash. 

The statement read, “Continuing our approach in resisting occupation, and in support of our people in Gaza, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians including children, women, and elders, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted a vital objective in Eilat ‘Umm al-Rashrash’ this morning, Thursday, May 23, 2024.”

The statement also noted that “unmanned aerial vehicles” were used in the operation while adding that the Iraqi resistance “reaffirms its commitment to targeting the enemy’s strongholds”.

Later on Thursday, another statement was published that declared “the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted vital objectives in our occupied lands at the port of Haifa.”

This time, the Iraqi resistance said “developed cruise missiles of the ‘Alarqab’ type” were used in the operation.

Also, on Thursday, unmanned aerial vehicles “targeted a military site in the occupied Golan Heights”.

Another operation was also staged late Thursday evening. The Iraqi resistance said the site of the target was again in Eilat (Umm al-Rashrash), with the use of two unmanned aerial vehicles. 

By early Friday, another statement was put out that declared the port of Haifa had been targeted again with drones “as part of the second phase”. 

In another development, the Secretary-General of Iraq’s Hezbollah brigades discussed developments on the situation in Gaza with the leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah and coordination among armed forces that have displayed solidarity with Gaza. 

Abu Hussein Al-Hamedawi highlighted in a phone call on Friday with the leader of the Yemeni revolution in Sana’a, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the necessity of maintaining readiness and high coordination among the Axis of Resistance forces, especially between Iraq and Yemen, to support the oppressed Palestinian people.

The anti-American Iraqi resistance commander pointed out, “The military operations of the Yemeni forces have greatly contributed to imposing a blockade on maritime navigation for the Zionist entity and ships heading to the ports of occupied Palestine, prompting American and British ships and those dealing with the entity to raise flags of other countries to hide and escape from the strikes of the honorable Yemeni men.”

For his part, al-Houthi praised “the operations of the Iraqi resistance that targeted vital targets deep within the usurping entity.”

Al-Houthi also underlined, “Coordination among the axis forces in the region will increase the impact of their operations against the Zionist enemy, and strengthen the resilience of the resistance fighters until the cessation of war and the lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip.”

Both Ansarullah in Yemen and the Iraqi resistance have declared that the next phase of their operations will include a blockade of Israeli ships and Israeli-linked ships in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Yemeni forces have said their operations will also expand to the Indian Ocean as well as targeting vessels belonging to any country that has links with the occupation regime. 

The two forces - Iraqis and Yemenis – have repeatedly stated that their armed operations will come to a halt once the genocidal war on Gaza ends and the siege on the enclave is lifted. 

Analysts say the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Ansarullah, which controls most of Yemen, began preparing and targeting Israeli interests many months ago when it became clear that the regime’s bombing campaign on Gaza was mostly killing women and children and the destruction in the enclave had reached a level that spelled potential genocide.