Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 has sparked numerous questions, among them, how the Israeli intelligence community failed to anticipate such a large-scale, complex campaign. But the latest war should not have been entirely unexpected. For years, Hamas has been one of the primary vehicles supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran in its strategy of confronting Israel on multiple fronts, with at least three fronts established since the 1980s.
Aside from Iran’s ideological motives, there is a main objective behind Iran’s strategy against Israel: Overstretch Israel’s military and intelligence resources and divert their attention, ultimately deterring Israel from attacking Iran.
While it remains unclear whether Iran played a role in Hamas’s recent decision to launch such a complex and bloody attack,Iran’s animosity towards Israel is well-known. For Tehran, Israel, or rather “the Zionist regime,” was “founded on the basis of war, occupation, terrorism and violation of the rights of nations,” in the words of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi at last month’s UN General Assembly..
The seeds of Iranian opposition to Israel predate the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In the 1970s, Mostafa Chamran, who went on to become the Islamic Republic’s first defense minister, trained in Lebanon with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and later joined the Lebanese Shia resistance that produced Amal and Hezbollah.
Other Iranian revolutionaries, such as Rahim Safavi and Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, received training from the PLO in Syria as well as Lebanon. Following the 1979 Revolution, Iran strengthened ties with Syria’s ruler Hafez al-Assad, forging an alliance born of mutual disdain for Iraq’s Saddam Hussein as well as shared hostility towards Israel.
The First Front: Lebanon & Hezbollah
In 1982, following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon to expel the PLO, Syria allowed the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to send 5,000 troops to Lebanon, turning Iran into a major player in the Levant. Most of the guards were recalled to fight against Iraq, which had invaded Iran in 1980. But a significant number remained in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley where they trained Shia Lebanese youth who went on to form Hezbollah, one of Israel’s primary adversaries in the region and the first Iranian front against Israel.
The Second Front: Palestine Territories & Hamas
In 1987, a second front emerged in the Palestinian territories with the creation of the Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as Hamas, sparked by the first Palestinian intifada (uprising). Israel initially tolerated the group, again seeking a way to weaken the PLO.By the early 1990s, however, the PLO had made peace with Israel through the Oslo Accords.Iran, either directly or through Hezbollah, began offering military training to Hamas recruits along with $30-50 million in annual funding. Iran also supplied Hamas with rockets, which have improved in capability and range. In a 2021 conflict with Israel, Hamas militants expanded their range to Tel Aviv. In one night, they launched more rockets at the city than they had fired the entire country during the 50-day conflict in 2014.
This weekend, Hamas began its latest assault on Israel by firing some 3,000 rockets across the border with Gaza and continued firing days later, targeting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Iranian officials, while denying responsibility for the Hamas assault, have not been discreet about their contributions to Hamas’s arsenal. Following the 2021 conflict, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, remarked, “Instead of giving fish to our friends in the resistance axis, or teaching them how to fish, we taught them how to construct fishing gear and hooks.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanani, congratulated the “Palestinian nation and all the groups of the resistance” for the unprecedented bloody attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Third Front: Syria & al-Imam Hussein Division
A third front against Israelemerged in Syria after the 2011 uprising against the Assad regime. Iran began to leverage the situation in its favor, aiming to establish a lasting presence in Syria. However, Iran’s approach in Syria differed from its strategies in other areas. Besides cultivating proxy forces, Iran has also made a direct military commitment. According to Israeli sources, Iran has set up more than 13 military bases across Syria and has five divisions of troops stationed there. The Imam Ali base in Abu-Kamal, close to the Iraq border, holds particular strategic significance as the IRGC’s primary conduit for moving troops and supplies between Iraq and Syria.
To minimize the chances for a direct military confrontation with Israel, Iran continues to emphasize proxy forces. It has sought to position the Iraqi Kata’ib Hezbollah militia in Syria while also forming a new pan-Shia group called the al-Imam Hussein division. In 2016, the late commander of the IRGC Quds Force, Qassim Soleimani, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to create the al-Imam Hussein group, which was designed to operate primarily in strategic regions such as Palmyra and Abu Kamal.
In 2020, after a U.S. drone strike killed Soleimani in Iraq, leadership of the division passed to Zulfikar Hinnawi, who is linked to Hezbollah. The Hussein division boasts 6,000 members from a number of countries, including Nigeria, Mali, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. Its Lebanese contingent is integral, accounting for a special unit of approximately 1,000 members equipped with sophisticated Iranian arms.
The Fourth Front: The West Bank
The Hussein division has had limited military encounters with Israel, with sporadic rocket attacks recorded in 2019. The division plays a substantial role in smuggling weapons to Palestinian militants in the West Bank, using drones or routes that cross Jordan.
Iranian ambitions to increase involvement in the West Bank were reflected in a 2020 statement from the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “The West Bank must be armed, just as Gaza,” Khamenei said, seemingly laying the groundwork for a fourth front against Israel.
Israeli officials have indicated that Iran began its efforts on the West Bank in 2018 sending explosives and other weapons from Syria using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Both Iranian and Israeli officials say that Iran has achieved some success in establishing this new front. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attributes the uptick in shooting attacks against Jewish settlers in the West Bank to Iran’s growing influence. Esmail Qaani, who succeeded Soleimani as the commander of the IRGC Quds Force, remarked, “Recently, 15 to 30 attacks are carried out daily in the West Bank by resistance forces against the Zionist regime,” acknowledging the development of a new front.
The Primary Front
Notwithstanding its other efforts, Iran has always focused on Lebanon. Since the inception of Hezbollah in 1985, the Islamic Republic has been the organization’s chief benefactor. Tehran provides annual financial aid ranging from $100 million to as much as $800 million, an extensive arsenal of weapons – from missiles and rockets to small arms – as well as military training and intelligence. In return, Hezbollah actively engages in every regional conflict in which Iran has taken a side, from Syria to Yemen.
The recent revelation by Gallant that Iran and Hezbollah are jointly building an airport in southern Lebanon 12 miles from Israel’s border further underscores the strategic importance Iran places on the Lebanon front. This facility is said to be designed to accommodate mid-sized aircraft, large drones, helicopters, and other UAVs, making Hezbollah the first Shia militia to possess its own airfield.
So far in the current crisis, there have been only a few exchanges of rocket fire between Palestinians based in southern Lebanon and Israel but that could change if Israel mounts a ground invasion of Gaza.
How long Iran’s strategy against Israel will last is hard to predict. Iran has had great success in cultivating proxies, particularly among fellow Shia Muslims, but even groups as closely allied with Iran as Hezbollah have their own interests. After the atrocities of last weekend, questions remain about next steps for Iran. How will the war with Hamas play out? Will Iran continue backing “resistance” groups if Saudi Arabia recognizes Israel? If the latest attack was Iran’s attempt to forestall Saudi-Israeli normalization, then it may have, in the short term, achieved this goal.
Arman Mahmoudian is a lecturer of International Affairs and Researcher at the University of South Florida Global and National Security Institute. He tweets @MahmoudianArman.
Hamas is Only One of Four Iranian Fronts Against Israel
By Arman Mahmoudian
Middle East & North Africa
Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 has sparked numerous questions, among them, how the Israeli intelligence community failed to anticipate such a large-scale, complex campaign. But the latest war should not have been entirely unexpected. For years, Hamas has been one of the primary vehicles supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran in its strategy of confronting Israel on multiple fronts, with at least three fronts established since the 1980s.
Aside from Iran’s ideological motives, there is a main objective behind Iran’s strategy against Israel: Overstretch Israel’s military and intelligence resources and divert their attention, ultimately deterring Israel from attacking Iran.
While it remains unclear whether Iran played a role in Hamas’s recent decision to launch such a complex and bloody attack,Iran’s animosity towards Israel is well-known. For Tehran, Israel, or rather “the Zionist regime,” was “founded on the basis of war, occupation, terrorism and violation of the rights of nations,” in the words of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi at last month’s UN General Assembly..
The seeds of Iranian opposition to Israel predate the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In the 1970s, Mostafa Chamran, who went on to become the Islamic Republic’s first defense minister, trained in Lebanon with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and later joined the Lebanese Shia resistance that produced Amal and Hezbollah.
Other Iranian revolutionaries, such as Rahim Safavi and Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, received training from the PLO in Syria as well as Lebanon. Following the 1979 Revolution, Iran strengthened ties with Syria’s ruler Hafez al-Assad, forging an alliance born of mutual disdain for Iraq’s Saddam Hussein as well as shared hostility towards Israel.
The First Front: Lebanon & Hezbollah
In 1982, following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon to expel the PLO, Syria allowed the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to send 5,000 troops to Lebanon, turning Iran into a major player in the Levant. Most of the guards were recalled to fight against Iraq, which had invaded Iran in 1980. But a significant number remained in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley where they trained Shia Lebanese youth who went on to form Hezbollah, one of Israel’s primary adversaries in the region and the first Iranian front against Israel.
The Second Front: Palestine Territories & Hamas
In 1987, a second front emerged in the Palestinian territories with the creation of the Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as Hamas, sparked by the first Palestinian intifada (uprising). Israel initially tolerated the group, again seeking a way to weaken the PLO.By the early 1990s, however, the PLO had made peace with Israel through the Oslo Accords.Iran, either directly or through Hezbollah, began offering military training to Hamas recruits along with $30-50 million in annual funding. Iran also supplied Hamas with rockets, which have improved in capability and range. In a 2021 conflict with Israel, Hamas militants expanded their range to Tel Aviv. In one night, they launched more rockets at the city than they had fired the entire country during the 50-day conflict in 2014.
This weekend, Hamas began its latest assault on Israel by firing some 3,000 rockets across the border with Gaza and continued firing days later, targeting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Iranian officials, while denying responsibility for the Hamas assault, have not been discreet about their contributions to Hamas’s arsenal. Following the 2021 conflict, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, remarked, “Instead of giving fish to our friends in the resistance axis, or teaching them how to fish, we taught them how to construct fishing gear and hooks.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanani, congratulated the “Palestinian nation and all the groups of the resistance” for the unprecedented bloody attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Third Front: Syria & al-Imam Hussein Division
A third front against Israelemerged in Syria after the 2011 uprising against the Assad regime. Iran began to leverage the situation in its favor, aiming to establish a lasting presence in Syria. However, Iran’s approach in Syria differed from its strategies in other areas. Besides cultivating proxy forces, Iran has also made a direct military commitment. According to Israeli sources, Iran has set up more than 13 military bases across Syria and has five divisions of troops stationed there. The Imam Ali base in Abu-Kamal, close to the Iraq border, holds particular strategic significance as the IRGC’s primary conduit for moving troops and supplies between Iraq and Syria.
To minimize the chances for a direct military confrontation with Israel, Iran continues to emphasize proxy forces. It has sought to position the Iraqi Kata’ib Hezbollah militia in Syria while also forming a new pan-Shia group called the al-Imam Hussein division. In 2016, the late commander of the IRGC Quds Force, Qassim Soleimani, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to create the al-Imam Hussein group, which was designed to operate primarily in strategic regions such as Palmyra and Abu Kamal.
In 2020, after a U.S. drone strike killed Soleimani in Iraq, leadership of the division passed to Zulfikar Hinnawi, who is linked to Hezbollah. The Hussein division boasts 6,000 members from a number of countries, including Nigeria, Mali, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. Its Lebanese contingent is integral, accounting for a special unit of approximately 1,000 members equipped with sophisticated Iranian arms.
The Fourth Front: The West Bank
The Hussein division has had limited military encounters with Israel, with sporadic rocket attacks recorded in 2019. The division plays a substantial role in smuggling weapons to Palestinian militants in the West Bank, using drones or routes that cross Jordan.
Iranian ambitions to increase involvement in the West Bank were reflected in a 2020 statement from the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “The West Bank must be armed, just as Gaza,” Khamenei said, seemingly laying the groundwork for a fourth front against Israel.
Israeli officials have indicated that Iran began its efforts on the West Bank in 2018 sending explosives and other weapons from Syria using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Both Iranian and Israeli officials say that Iran has achieved some success in establishing this new front. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attributes the uptick in shooting attacks against Jewish settlers in the West Bank to Iran’s growing influence. Esmail Qaani, who succeeded Soleimani as the commander of the IRGC Quds Force, remarked, “Recently, 15 to 30 attacks are carried out daily in the West Bank by resistance forces against the Zionist regime,” acknowledging the development of a new front.
The Primary Front
Notwithstanding its other efforts, Iran has always focused on Lebanon. Since the inception of Hezbollah in 1985, the Islamic Republic has been the organization’s chief benefactor. Tehran provides annual financial aid ranging from $100 million to as much as $800 million, an extensive arsenal of weapons – from missiles and rockets to small arms – as well as military training and intelligence. In return, Hezbollah actively engages in every regional conflict in which Iran has taken a side, from Syria to Yemen.
The recent revelation by Gallant that Iran and Hezbollah are jointly building an airport in southern Lebanon 12 miles from Israel’s border further underscores the strategic importance Iran places on the Lebanon front. This facility is said to be designed to accommodate mid-sized aircraft, large drones, helicopters, and other UAVs, making Hezbollah the first Shia militia to possess its own airfield.
So far in the current crisis, there have been only a few exchanges of rocket fire between Palestinians based in southern Lebanon and Israel but that could change if Israel mounts a ground invasion of Gaza.
How long Iran’s strategy against Israel will last is hard to predict. Iran has had great success in cultivating proxies, particularly among fellow Shia Muslims, but even groups as closely allied with Iran as Hezbollah have their own interests. After the atrocities of last weekend, questions remain about next steps for Iran. How will the war with Hamas play out? Will Iran continue backing “resistance” groups if Saudi Arabia recognizes Israel? If the latest attack was Iran’s attempt to forestall Saudi-Israeli normalization, then it may have, in the short term, achieved this goal.
Arman Mahmoudian is a lecturer of International Affairs and Researcher at the University of South Florida Global and National Security Institute. He tweets @MahmoudianArman.
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