Iraqi militias claimed to have carried out a drone strike on the port of theIsraeli city of Ashdod, with a local authority spokesperson saying the city was taking the threat seriously.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella term for a network of Iran-backed militant groups that have launched more than100 assaults on US bases, claimed the alleged attack.

“In continuation of our path in resisting the occupation, in support of our people in Gaza… the fighters of the IRI attacked the port of Ashdod,” the group said in a statement, accompanied by a video showing the launch of a drone.

This is the second attack claimed by IRI on Ashdod in a week, in what the group described as the “second phase of operations”.

Israel announced last month that it hadshot down drones thought to have originated from Iraq.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) declined to comment on the IRI claims. A spokesperson for Ashdod Port – the largest in Israel – would not confirm or deny whether an attack had taken place.

Aryella Rosenthal, a spokesperson for Ashdod municipality, said the claimed attack had not triggered air raid sirens but did not rule out that a munition could have fallen in an open area or the sea.

“We take the threat seriously,” Ms Rosenthal said. “We know Ashdod is a target because we are a strategic city.”

The city is home to Israel’s second largest oil refinery and facilities of the defence ministry.

“We are well prepared but you never know with Iran and its proxies,” Ms Rosenthal added, noting that Tehran is able to supply militias with more powerful weapons than those ofHamas.

The spokesperson said that an “emergency routine” was already in place in Ashdod. More than 300 red alerts have been issued since the outbreak of war in Gaza for rocket attacks and about 50 rockets have exploded in the city.

The attacks have not killed anyone directly but a nine-year-old girl suffered afatal heart attack during a red alert.

The city is seeking to develop stronger resilience measures including mobile shelters, said Ms Rosenthal.

Professor Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said that it was unclear whether the IRI had succeeded in striking Ashdod.

But he added that Iraq’s “very capable” militias are a threat to Israel, with several of Iran’s other allies – including Hamas,Hezbollah, and theHouthis – already engaged in varying degrees of conflict with Israel.

While Israel has been able to intercept supplies of weapons to militant groups in neighbouring Lebanon and Syria, Iraqi militias are dangerous “because Iran can provide them with many capabilities pretty freely because of the distance from Israel and less effective intelligence control”, said Professor Michael.