Drone from Iraq hits Eilat port, causing damage and lightly injuring two

A drone launched from Iraq struck the Eilat port on Wednesday, causing damage and lightly wounding two people, the military and medics said.

The Israel Defense Forces said that a second drone launched in the attack was intercepted by one of the Navy’s Sa’ar 5-class corvettes over the Red Sea.

The drone that hit the port area injured two civilians, a 68-year-old and a 28-year-old, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.

Both men were listed in good condition and did not require hospitalization, MDA added.

The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq took responsibility for the attack, claiming to have launched drones at a “vital target” in Israel’s southernmost city.

It was the latest in a spate of daily drone attacks this week claimed by the Iran-backed group and came as fighting has sharply escalated between Israel and another Iranian proxy, Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group.

Footage showed the explosive-laden drone exploding as it hit Eilat, sending smoke rising from the port area and damage to a warehouse.

The incoming drones set off sirens in the city. Shortly before the sirens blared, interceptor missiles were launched in the area, eyewitnesses said.

The same coalition of pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq has claimed to have launched numerous drones at Israel amid the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the fighting in the north, most of which failed to cross Israel’s border, were downed by air defenses, or hit open areas.

The Iran-backed group fired several drones at Israel late Tuesday and early Wednesday, some of which were intercepted by the IDF.

One of the drones set off rare sirens overnight in the small town of Sapir along the border with Jordan in Israel’s southern Arava desert. The IDF said that the drone, which entered Israeli airspace from the eastern direction, impacted in the Arava region without causing any injuries.

The group took responsibility for the attack, saying it launched it at a “target” in the Jordan Valley.

Drone warnings also set off sirens in the Golan Heights overnight, with the group taking responsibility. The IDF later said that two drones from Iraq struck open areas in the northern Golan Heights, after setting off sirens in Ein Zivan and Merom Golan. The drone impacts sparked fires in open areas, but no injuries were caused.

Then on Wednesday morning, Israeli fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Israeli airspace south of the Sea of Galilee, the IDF said. Sirens had sounded in the Golan Heights community of Eliad amid the incident.

According to the military, the drone had flown toward Israel from the east, possibly launched from Iraq, and entered Israeli airspace from Syria. No damage or injuries were caused.

Drones from the east arrived on Monday as well with the IDF saying they were intercepted. On Sunday, two cruise missiles and a pair of drones were fired at the Golan Heights and another drone headed south. All were intercepted and there were no injuries in any of those attacks which were also claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

Earlier this month, the the Iraqi militia claimed a drone attack it said targeted the port city of Haifa on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. That drone was also shot down before it entered Israeli airspace, the IDF said at the time.

Last week an Israeli fighter jet intercepted a drone near the Sea of Galilee that had been launched from Iraq, the IDF said.

Eilat has also come under attack by other Iran-backed groups amid the war in Gaza, including Yemen’s Houthis and a group in Syria linked to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

In April, a drone launched from Iran struck a building in a naval base in Israel’s southernmost city. Slight damage was caused to a building in Eilat Bay, and there were no injuries the IDF said.

In November, a school in Eilat was hit by a drone launched from Syria, and in March, a cruise missile fired from Yemen struck an open area north of the city.

After more than 11 months of cross-border violence — beginning October 8, when Hezbollah started firing rockets at Israel in support of its ally Hamas, one day after Hamas carried out a massacre in Israel — that avoided an all-out war, Israel and Hezbollah have stepped up fighting in recent days, with hundreds of rockets fired at Israel and intensive IDF airstrikes on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, as well as the targeted assassinations of a number of the terror group’s leaders.

Source » timesofisrael.com