Arab media claims Israel struck Iranian targets in Iraq on July 19 and Sunday; Mixed reports claim F-35 used or drones; IDF refuses to comment on reports.
Reports from Middle East news claim Israel carried out two separate airstrikes on Iranian targets in Iraq in July. The first attack was reported on July 19 by the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, based in London, in a report entitled “Israel Expands Targets against Iran in Iraq, Syria.” They claimed “Tel Aviv carried out an airstrike earlier this month against an Iranian rockets depot northeast of Baghdad,” which is common with Arab news which refuses to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The second attack was carried out this past Sunday.
It claimed Israel’s F-35 stealth fighter jets were used in both airstrikes, the first strike reported on the Amreli base in the Saladin province, targeting an Iranian weapons shipment. According to the paper, sources from the West confirmed the second strikes targeted “Iranian advisors and a ballistic missile shipment” on an Iraqi Shi’ite militia base.
Mixed reports from Iraq claim an Israeli drone may have been used and not F-35 jets, Iraqi media initially reporting Sunday’s attack may have been carried out by ISIS or Hezbollah. Saudi Arabia’s al-Arabiya reported the strikes on July 19 killed both Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and Hezbollah militants.
As with the majority of Israel’s covert operations in the region, mainly in Syria, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) refused to comment or confirm the reports. It has been clear, always, that any threats to Israel’s security, weapons transfers and terror activity are red lines, and that Israel will continue to defend herself.
