Where Are Iran's Allies Amid 'War' With Israel?
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Facing the most devastating attacks since its 1980s war with Iraq, Iran has described the still-ongoing Israeli assault as a "declaration of war," the harshest language yet in a decadeslong rivalry now trending toward full-scale conflict.
But despite having invested in a sprawling network of allies across the Middle East, Iran finds its "Axis of Resistance" coalition severely weakened as a result of an exhausting battle with Israel, sparked by an October 7, 2023, surprise attack led by the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Hamas condemned the Israeli strikes against Iran, which began late Thursday, but the group remains mired in its 20-month fight in the Gaza Strip. Other groups, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah and factions aligned with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have also criticized Israel's actions, but they have fallen short of pledging intervention.
An Israeli military official told Newsweek the strikes were part of what has been dubbed "Operation Rising Lion," conducted in response to intelligence indicating that Iran had obtained enough material to produce up to 15 nuclear bombs.
Thus far, only one group, Yemen's Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, has pledged new attacks against Israel, part of a continuous campaign tied to the war in Gaza.
With Israeli strikes still targeting Iranian military sites, nuclear facilities and senior leaders, factions of the Axis of Resistance are carefully measuring their reactions in comments shared with Newsweek and published to official channels.
Ansar Allah forces take part in a mass protest held against the Israeli continued bombardment and blockade of people in the Gaza Strip on May 23 in Sanaa, Yemen.
Ansar Allah forces take part in a mass protest held against the Israeli continued bombardment and blockade of people in the Gaza Strip on May 23 in Sanaa, Yemen.
Mohammed Hamoud/AFP/Getty Images
Ansar Allah
Ansar Allah has emerged as the most active member of the Axis of Resistance in the fight against Israel. The group has pressed on with missile and drone strikes, even after agreeing to halt attacks on commercial vessels and U.S. warships in a deal struck last month with President Donald Trump's administration.
The group claimed its most recent attack on Wednesday, just hours after the Israeli Navy launched an unprecedented strike on Yemen's crucial Al-Hodeidah port. That same day, as reports mounted of an anticipated large-scale Israeli attack on Iran, an Ansar Allah source told Newsweek such an operation would prove "dangerous and will drag the entire region into the abyss of war."
On Friday, with Iran under repeated attack, the Ansar Allah source said the group would continue its long-range offensive.
"We have been at war for some time with the Zionist enemy entity," the Ansar Allah source told Newsweek. "And our support for Gaza and our defense of our country against the Zionist aggression against it has continued, before and after the Zionist aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Men dressed in military fatigues stand next to the coffins of Hezbollah official Hassan Bdeir (R) and his son Ali (L) who were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted their apartment the previous day,...
Men dressed in military fatigues stand next to the coffins of Hezbollah official Hassan Bdeir (R) and his son Ali (L) who were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted their apartment the previous day, ahead of their funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburbs on April 2. More
ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images
Hezbollah
Hezbollah was previously regarded as the most powerful faction of the Axis of Resistance, having fought two wars against Israel, both of which ended with a ceasefire and both sides declaring victory. The war in Gaza marked the third major confrontation between the two foes.
Once again, both sides portrayed the subsequent truce signed on November 27, 2024, as win for their respective sides, but the losses suffered by Hezbollah were considerable. The group's longtime leader, Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in a September airstrike in Beirut, and scores of other senior commanders and military equipment was lost due to intensified Israeli operations.
Hezbollah has since sought to regroup. But the effort is complicated by the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, another key Axis of Resistance member, to an Islamist-led rebel offensive launched the same day as the ceasefire with Israel, cutting off a critical route through allies in Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Meanwhile, Israel has continued to strike alleged Hezbollah targets in Lebanon despite the truce, to which the group says it remains committed after the Israeli attacks on Iran.
"Hezbollah is committed to the ceasefire agreement, even though Israel has not respected this commitment over the past period," a Hezbollah spokesperson told Newsweek on Friday. "It continues to kill, assassinate, and attack areas, including entering border villages and remaining at the five points."
In a statement issued that same day, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said neither the U.S. nor Israel would "be able to influence the choices of the Islamic Republic of Iran, nor its role and position," and "rather, its dignity and resilience will increase, and the Israeli entity will regret its barbarism and brutality."
"We, in Hezbollah, our Islamic Resistance, and our struggling people, adhere to our approach and resistance, and we support the Islamic Republic of Iran in its rights and position, and in all the steps and measures it takes to defend itself and its choices," Qassem said. "The criminal Israeli enemy and its tyrannical sponsor, America, will reap nothing but shame, disgrace, and loss."
An Iraqi paramilitary soldier attends a rally on the annual Al-Quds Day, a holiday established by Iran to commemorate Palestinian and Islamic claims to Jerusalem, in Baghdad on March 28.
An Iraqi paramilitary soldier attends a rally on the annual Al-Quds Day, a holiday established by Iran to commemorate Palestinian and Islamic claims to Jerusalem, in Baghdad on March 28.
Hadi Mizban/AP
Islamic Resistance in Iraq
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq is an umbrella term used by a number of Iraqi militias aligned with the broader Axis of Resistance coalition. Among the most powerful groups include Kataib Hezbollah and the Nujaba Movement, both of which are also officially members of the Iraqi state-sponsored Popular Mobilization Forces paramilitary network, though they often operate independently of the government.
Like Ansar Allah, Islamic Resistance in Iraq militias have conducted dozens of missile and drone attacks against Israel, though the campaign has largely been paused since an initial Israel-Hamas ceasefire was reached in January. The groups have yet to announce new operations after the truce broke down in March and Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has also claimed dozens of attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, though these operations have been largely paused since then-President Joe Biden announced in February of last year the beginning of consultations for the gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. A plan was announced in September that would see the U.S. draw down its military presence in two phases.
Trump has yet to commit to the plan, however, and Iraqi militias have repeatedly told Newsweek attacks on U.S. forces would resume if U.S. troops remained in the country indefinitely.
This call for the expulsion of U.S. forces in Iraq was renewed in a statement issued Thursday by Kataib Hezbollah and circulated across social media in response to the Israeli attacks on Iran.
"American forces in Iraq paved the way for this aggression by opening Iraqi airspace to provide safe passage for the Zionist air force to commit its crimes against neighboring Iran and its Muslim people," the group said. "If it is said that we do not want Iraq to be a battlefield, then it is necessary to control the role of foreign forces present on Iraqi soil and controlling its skies."
"Accordingly," the statement added, "the government must urgently expel these hostile forces country to avoid further wars in the region and prevent the bloodshed of its people."
Newsweek has reached out to the Nujaba Movement for comment.
Hamas fighters gather at the site of the handing over of Israeli hostages at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip as part of the seventh hostage-prisoner release on February 22.
Hamas fighters gather at the site of the handing over of Israeli hostages at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip as part of the seventh hostage-prisoner release on February 22.
SAEED JARAS/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images
Hamas
Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement of "solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran in the face of the brutal Zionist aggression" in a statement issued Friday.
The group attributed the Israeli attacks to "Iran's stance alongside the Palestinian people and its substantial support for their honorable resistance," and argued that the Axis of Resistance would remain intact despite the sweeping Israeli strikes.
"The Zionist enemy is utterly deluded if it believes these treacherous strikes can weaken the resistance fronts or stabilize this fragile entity in the region," the Al-Qassem Brigades said. "On the contrary, it continues to make successive strategic mistakes that will only hasten its inevitable demise, by God's will."
Newsweek has reached out to Hamas for comment.
As the leading frontline force in the fight initiated by the group in 2023, Hamas has suffered the brunt of casualties inflicted by Israel. Still, Israeli officials say the group retains a degree of operational capacity, allowing it to continue conducting attacks against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), often in coordination with other Palestinian factions in Gaza.
But as talks backed by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar drag on in Gaza, the U.S. and Israel have asserted that Hamas would need to be removed from power as a prerequisite for any post-war solution.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also repeatedly stated the conflict would not end until Hamas was destroyed as a functioning military and political entity.
With the group's future thrown into even greater uncertainty as a result of the Israeli strikes across Iran, Hamas appealed for a united front in a separate statement issued by its media office on Friday.
"The Zionist aggression against Iran marks a dangerous escalation, confirms the existential nature of struggle against the Ummah's central enemy, and demands a unified stance to deter the Zionist occupation and end its crimes," Hamas said.
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27 minutes ago
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28 minutes ago
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Anger mixed with worry as Iranians in the capital of Tehran woke up Saturday to images of their country's retaliatory attacks on Israel. Iranian state television, long controlled by hard-line supporters of the country's theocracy, repeatedly aired footage of missile strikes on Tel Aviv throughout the morning. The broadcaster also showed people cheering in front of a large screen set up in Tehran to follow the strikes as if they were watching a soccer match. Traffic was lighter than normal on the capital's streets. The change was due in part to the Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir commemorating the Prophet Muhammad picking his successor, Ali, who is beloved as the first Shiite imam and whose assassination set in motion the splintering of Sunni and Shiite Islam. Even before the attacks began, many Iranians had traveled outside the city to enjoy days off in places along the nearby Caspian Sea. The holiday mood made news of the assaults that much more shocking, particularly when the strikes killed many ranking members of Iran's military and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, something unseen since Iran's war with Iraq in the 1980s. It's a new experience for many of Iran's 80 million people who weren't alive for that devastating conflict, which included a period known as the 'War of the Cities,' in which Iraq rained ballistic missiles, artillery fire and airstrikes on Iranian cities. 'Israel killed our commanders and what they expect in return? A kiss?' said Mahmoud Dorri, a 29-year-old taxi driver. 'We will go after them to punish them: an eye for an eye.' In downtown Tehran, 31-year-old teacher and mother of two Pari Pourghazi expressed her joy over Iran's attack, linking it to Israel's devastating war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 'Someone should stop Israelis. They think they can do anything they want at any time,' she said. "Iran showed Israelis are wrong though they could suppress people of Gaza or Lebanon by heavy bombing.' Auto mechanic Houshang Ebadi, 61, also backed the Iranian strike but said he opposed a full-fledged war between Iran and Israel. 'I support my country. The Israelis made mistake in launching attacks on Iran but I hope this comes to end," Ebadi said. "War will not bear fruit for any side.' Others expressed concerns, verbally or through their actions. At one Tehran gas station, some 300 vehicles waited to fill up, with drivers growing frustrated. 'Sometime there is a queue because people fear that the refineries may be targeted, sometimes there is a line because of a power outage," said Nahid Rostami, a 43-year-old stylist. "When is this emergency situation going to end?' Fruit seller Hamid Hasanlu, 41, said his twins couldn't sleep Friday night with the sounds of explosions and anti-aircraft batteries firing. 'Leaders of both countries should know that people are suffering," he said. Bakeries also drew crowds as people sought to buy supplies including traditional Iranian bread, a staple of meals. 'I buy more bread since I think maybe there is no flour or electricity because of the war," said Molouk Asghari, a 56-year-old homemaker. 'I have children and grandchildren. I cannot see them in a hard situation without food, water and electricity." 'Who knows what happens tonight?" said Rostami, the stylist.
