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Their noise is now all too familiar to Ukrainians who are constantly under attack from Iranian-made drones launched by Russia.
Dozens of drones were spotted flying from Iran towards Israel over Iraqi airspace.
Drones launched by Iran were seen flying low as they passed over Iraq. In videos shared on social media, guns can be heard making a loud humming noise.
The unmanned aerial vehicles are believed to be Shaheds, "Witness" in Farsi.
The deadly long-range drone has become known as Tehran's "AK-47", cheap, mass-produced and ready to be exported around the world to conflict zones where the regime has a vested interest.
Their noise is now all too familiar to Ukrainians who are constantly under attack from Iranian-made drones launched by Russia.
The sound of a Shahed buzzing through the skies signals an imminent explosion and often, civilian casualties. Equipped with warheads of up to 50 kg and a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, the Russians have relied mainly on the Shaheds to attack power grids and grain depots.
Shahed has already been used many times by Iranian proxies in the Middle East, particularly by Houthi rebel groups. The Syrian regime's drone fleet is also reported to include Shaheds.
A Shahed-136 drone, according to US officials, was used in the infamous July 2021 drone attack by Iran on the Mercer Street ship in the Red Sea, which killed a Romanian sailor and a British security guard.
By launching the drones from Iran, over 1,000 km from Israel, Tehran appeared to have deliberately avoided the element of surprise. Drones flying over Iraq appeared to be flying very low, in an apparent attempt to avoid local radar. It was unclear Saturday night whether the drone strikes would be followed by further launches of cruise or ballistic missiles.
If Iran's goal is to defeat Israeli air defenses, it may have launched the relatively slow drones long before the missiles, in an effort to ensure that the weapons reach Israel at the same time.
"The Shahed 136 is not exactly the most advanced drone in the world," Bradley Boëman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said earlier this year.
“But that's the thing, you can achieve very significant things on the battlefield with low-tech, low-cost systems, especially if you can use them in large quantities. Iranian drones are not only a problem for Ukrainians. They are also a problem for Israel, the United States and its Arab partners," he said.
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