BEIRUT, September 30. /TASS/. The Shiite Islamic Resistance of Iraq movement has reported strikes on four "critical targets" in Israel, according to a statement on the organization’s Telegram channel.

It says that two of the attacked sites were located in the Israeli city of Haifa. Three of the attacks were carried out by drones and another one by a missile. Allegedly, the strikes were a response to Israel's "massacres" against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, launching air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria before starting a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave.

On September 23, Israel launched a massive airstrike as part of Operation Northern Arrows against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The stated goal is to create a safe environment to return dozens of thousands of locals who have been evacuated from border areas in northern Israel. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on September 27.