F-35 stealth fighter (archive)
F-35 stealth fighter (archive)iStock

Israeli fighter jets struck two targets deep inside Iraqi territory earlier this month, Arab media outlets have claimed.

According to a report by the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that Israeli F-35I fighter jets bombed a target in the northern Iraqi Salahuddin province on July 19th.

The target struck by the Israeli fighters was reported to be a base operated by an Iraqi Shi’ite militia with close ties to the Iranian government.

A number of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards soldiers and members of the Hezbollah terrorist organization – which is allied with Iran – were reportedly killed in the attack.

The Saudi-based Al-Arabiya network claimed that the base in Salahuddin had been used to store Iranian ballistic missiles.

At the time, Iraqi security officials claimed that one fighter had been killed in the attack, and two Iranians injured.

Iraq claimed that the attack had been carried out by a drone aircraft.

One Iranian-backed militia blamed ISIS for the attack, while a Hezbollah-linked group suggested the attack may have been carried out by the US or Israel.

The Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper also claimed Israeli aircraft conducted a second strike deep inside Iraqi territory, bombing a base operated by another Iranian-linked militia group.

The second attack reportedly took place this Sunday, and targeted a base 25 miles from Baghdad and 50 miles from the Iranian border where, like the first target, Iran is said to have been storing ballistic missiles.

Israel has not commented on the reports.