Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar is calling on the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the Iraqi government to take immediate action to halt and prevent attacks by Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Al Jazeera reports.

Saar issued the call in a letter he sent to the president of the UNSC.

He said the militias, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have launched hundreds of drones of the Shahed, Ziad and Arpad types as well as dozens of cruise missiles since October last year.

Most of them were intercepted, he said, but some have made impact, including explosive-laden drones that hit an Israeli military base in northern Israel on October 3, killing at least two soldiers and wounding 24 others.

“The government of Iraq is responsible under international law to prevent the use of its territory as a base for attacks against other nations,” Saar wrote. “Against this backdrop, I wish to recall once again that Israel has the inherent right to self-defence … and to take all necessary measures to protest itself and its citizens,” he warned.