Iraqi group claims missile attack on Tel Aviv targets, source says

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of Iran-backed armed groups, launched multiple attacks on Israel using cruise missiles on Thursday, a source in the group said.

The source told news agency Reuters the attack was carried out with multiple Arqub-type cruise missiles and targeted the Israeli city of Tel Aviv for the first time.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed dozens of rockets and drone attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria and on targets in Israel in the more than six months since the Gaza war erupted on Oct. 7.

Israel has not publicly commented on the attacks claimed by Iraqi armed groups. 

Meanwhile, the Iraqi embassy in Washington called Wednesday for "restraint, calm, respect for human rights and peaceful expression" as unrest over Israel's war in Gaza simmered on US campuses.

Dozens of Iraqi university students and professors rallied Thursday at a Baghdad campus in solidarity with Gaza and pro-Palestinian protests at US universities, according to French news agency.

Iraqi Education Minister Naeem al-Aboudi earlier this week expressed his support for the "free voices in universities" around the world, and called for protests in solidarity with the embattled Gaza Strip.

Students at Al-Nahrain University waved the Palestinian and Iraqi flags.

In 2019, popular protests broke out in Iraq against the ruling establishment, and a security crackdown left more than 600 people killed.

The United States is Israel's largest military supplier.

Student protesters on American campuses say they are expressing solidarity with Palestinians in the war-devastated Gaza Strip, prompting large-scale police arrests.

The unprecedented October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel which resulted in the death of 1,170 people, according to Israeli figures.

 Israel initiated a massive offensive that has killed at least 34,622 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the territory.

Fighters also seized hostages during the attack, estimating that 129 of them remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.