Israel is currently fighting on two fronts: with Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north. It is also being attacked by more geographically distant enemies, such as the Houthis in Yemen and the so-called Popular Mobilization Unit in Iraq. They attack Israel with long-range rockets. What these non-state actors have in common is that they are allies of Iran. Deutsche Welle (DW) represents groups.
Iran
Iran is Israel's most powerful enemy. The political leadership in Tehran has repeatedly defined the destruction of Israel as its goal. Iran primarily acts against Israel through its non-state allies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and the Gaza Strip. However, Iran itself attacked Israel as part of the Gaza war. In April of this year, Iran attacked Israel with about 300 rockets. Tehran previously accused Israel of an air strike on its diplomatic mission in Damascus.
Iran is considered a key backer of the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah. The US State Department has been seeing indications of Iranian involvement on the side of Hamas and Hezbollah for some time. In their "2020 Terrorism Report", US authorities write that Iran has supplied Hezbollah with thousands of rockets, missiles and light weapons since 2006.
According to the German government, Iran is also responsible for the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
"So far we have no solid evidence that Iran concretely and operationally supported this cowardly attack by Hamas," Chancellor Olaf Soltz pointed out shortly after the attack, speaking in the German Bundestag. "But it is clear to all of us that without Iranian support in the last few years, Hamas would not have been able to carry out these unprecedented attacks on Israeli territory."
Hezbollah
Hezbollah is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab states. The EU so classifies only its military wing. Political representatives of that party are usually members of the Lebanese parliament and cabinet.
Hezbollah was formed in 1982 in the fight against Israel, which occupied the southern part of the country during the civil war in Lebanon. In 1985, Hezbollah published a manifesto in which it stated its goals: the expulsion of the former Western colonial powers from Lebanon or the reduction of their influence, the destruction of the state of Israel, and rapprochement with Iran. The manifesto at the time also called for the establishment of a religious-Islamist regime in Lebanon modeled after the Iranian theocracy, but this last point was later significantly toned down.
From the very beginning, Hezbollah was considered a close ally of Iran. Iran, especially in recent years, has significantly supported Hezbollah. In a 2022 study, the Washington-based Wilson Center described Hezbollah's armed wing as "the most formidable non-state military actor in the Middle East – and possibly the world."
Immediately after the start of the war in Gaza, the heavily armed Hezbollah began shelling Israeli territory. 90.000 people were evacuated. Israel responded to the attack, which resulted in about 110.000 people fleeing the Lebanese border areas. The conflict has been at a relatively low level for a long time. However, in recent weeks, the situation has escalated.
Hamas
The militant Islamist Hamas was founded in 1987, after the beginning of the first Intifada, the Palestinian uprising against the occupation. Germany, the European Union, the USA and some other countries classify it as a terrorist organization. He is ideologically close to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. In its charter, Hamas lists the destruction of the state of Israel as one of its goals.
A year after Israel's complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2006, Hamas won the majority of votes in parliamentary elections and has ruled this isolated small coastal strip ever since. Since then, there have been no new elections. In accordance with its ideology, Hamas has since attacked Israel repeatedly. As a result, several serious armed conflicts occurred. The latest war, which began last fall, dates back to a terrorist attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. During the attack, around 1.200 Israelis were killed, and 251 people were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has been cooperating with Iran for several years and receives military support from it. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is believed to have been killed by Israel in July this year, confirmed this support in the spring of 2022. In an interview with Qatar's Al Jazeera television, he said Iran had paid a total of $70 million to help develop missiles and defense systems. Iran and Hamas are "against the common enemy of Israel," Haniyeh said. With this help, Hamas was able to attack Israel last October and continues to launch rocket attacks to this day.
The Houthis in Yemen
The Houthis originate from a tribal confederation in the mountainous region of northern Yemen on the border with Saudi Arabia. By religion, they belong to the Zaydites, a school within Shia Islam. The militia emerged in the 1990s during protests against then-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Since the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, the Houthis have risen up against then-President Abed Rab Mansur Hadi on the grounds that they are marginalizing the Zaydis. An international military alliance led by Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict and kept Hadi in office. The war that started in 2015 continues to this day.
The ideological course of the Houthis can be deduced from their slogan: "God is the greatest, death to America, death to Israel, curse to the Jews, victory to Islam". In the territory under their control in the north of Yemen, the militia established a strict Islamist order. Immediately after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, the Houthis expressed their solidarity with Hamas. For this reason, they have been attacking international maritime traffic on the Red Sea since November last year. From there, they repeatedly fired rockets at Israel. The Houthis are supported by Iran, among other things, through arms deliveries.
Kataib-Hezbollah in Iraq
In Iraq, there are a large number of Shiite militias linked to Iran, united in the so-called Popular Mobilization Front. The most famous among them, Kataib Hezbollah (KH), emerged in 2003, during the US war against Iraq. Under the auspices of Iran, various factions of the Popular Mobilization Front initially fought against US troops, only to turn increasingly against jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and later the Islamic State (IS) during the Iraqi civil war.
The structure of the group, especially the leadership, is not very transparent. Part of the so-called Popular Mobilization Front, funded by the Iraqi state, is formally under the command of the Iraqi prime minister. However, the group often operates outside the chain of command. She tends to follow orders from Iran, with whose leadership she is closely connected. Representatives of this and other militias are also represented in the Iraqi parliament. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, these groups have been militarily attacking Israel, as well as American troops in Syria and Iraq.
Bonus video:
