An Iranian terrorist proxy in Bahrain on Thursday said it launched a suicide drone towards Eilat this week, in what would be the first attack from the Gulf state since the start of the current Hamas war on Oct. 7.
The Al-Ashtar Brigades, which the United States designated as a terrorist organization in 2018, claimed the unconfirmed April 27 attack targeted “the company responsible for land transportation in the Zionist entity [Trucknet] in the city of Umm Al-Rashrash [Eilat] in occupied Palestine.”
The apparent assault was carried out “in support of the Palestinian cause and our resisting people in Gaza,” added the statement.
Trucknet Enterprise is an Eilat-based startup that provides logistics technology for Arab companies taking advantage of a new land corridor between the Gulf states and Israel through Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Israel and Bahrain normalized relations in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords reached under the Trump administration, which also saw Jerusalem establish official relations with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan.
The Israel Defense Forces and Bahrain’s embassy in Tel Aviv did not immediately respond to a request for comment by JNS.
Two months ago, the United States imposed additional sanctions on four Iran-based individuals suspected of aiding the Al-Ashtar Brigades.
“Today’s action, taken in coordination with the Kingdom of Bahrain, underscores our collective commitment to disrupting Iran’s destabilizing forces and threats, particularly those which threaten our partners in the region and around the world,” Brian Nelson, U.S. under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said at the time.
According to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the group seeks to overthrow Bahrain’s monarchy and has claimed at least 20 attacks, some of which caused fatalities. Its attacks have primarily targeted local security forces.
Israel has bolstered its naval presence in the Red Sea area in response to attacks from Iranian terrorist proxies in the Middle East, including the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Missile boats were deployed “as part of the increased defense efforts in the region,” the IDF said late last year.
