Middle East crisis: US carries out retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria against Iranian allies

Iranian-backed groups have varying histories and relationships with Tehran, but all share Iran's desire for the US military to leave the region and for Israel's power to be reduced. Iranian rhetoric, echoed by allied groups, often goes further and calls for the elimination of the Israeli state.

Like Iran, most allied groups follow the Shia branch of Islam. The exception is Hamas, whose members are predominantly Sunni Muslims.

Iran has provided weapons, training, financing and other support to the groups, especially those in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, according to evidence obtained through weapons seizures, after-action forensics, foreign asset tracking and intelligence gathering. According to American and international experts, part of the training is being outsourced to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

More recently, Iran has also allowed militias to obtain certain weapons parts and manufacture or retrofit some weapons themselves, Middle East and U.S. officials said. Moreover, most groups, such as Hamashave their own extensive, profitable enterprises, which include both legal activities such as construction and illegal enterprises such as kidnapping and drug smuggling.

Despite its support for the militias, Iran does not necessarily control when and where they attack Western and Israeli targets, according to many Middle Eastern and European experts, as well as U.S. intelligence officials. It does have an influence on the groups and, at least in some cases, seems able to stop strikes.

After Iraq-based militants attacked a US base in Jordan on Sunday, the group the Pentagon said was responsible, Kata'ib Hezbollah, whose leadership and forces are close to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, announced it would temporarily withdraw at its insistence of Iran. and the Iraqi government.

However, each militia also has its own agenda, depending on the home country.

For example, the Houthi movement had battlefield success in Yemen's civil war and controls part of the country. But now that they are unable to feed their population or create jobs, they demonstrate strength and competence to their domestic public by taking on the great powers, attacking shipping going to and from the Suez Canal, and to provoke retaliatory attacks by the United States and its allies.

That has allowed the Houthis to claim the mantle of solidarity with the Palestinians, and also aligns the group with Iran's goal of attacking Israel and its key ally, the United States.

In contrast, Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has the longest-standing ties to Iran, is part of the Lebanese government. Its decisions on when and how much to attack Israel take into account the risks of Israeli reprisals against Lebanese civilians. A 2020 U.S. Department of State report estimated that Iran's support for Hezbollah at the time amounted to $700 million per year.

The weapons supplied to the groups range from light weapons to rockets, ballistic and cruise missiles — and a range of increasingly sophisticated drones, said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute, who has tracked the proxies for many years.

Iran has provided smaller direct cash subsidies to its allies in recent years, in part, experts say, because the country is under financial pressure from U.S. and international sanctions.

In addition to direct aid, some groups have received in-kind financing such as oil, which can be sold or, as in the case of the Houthis, thousands of AK-47s that can also be marketed, according to a November report of the United Nations.

A Yemeni political analyst, Hisham al-Omeisy, said of the Houthis: “They are very well supported by the Iranians, but they are not puppets on a string. They are not Iranian proxies.”

The same could be said of other groups.

Iran itself sends different messages about the militias to different audiences, said Mohammed al-Sulami, who heads Rasanah, an Iran-focused research organization based in Saudi Arabia, which has long worked with Iran for regional influence.

When speaking to domestic and Middle Eastern audiences, Iran tends to portray what it calls the “Axis of Resistance” as something under its leadership and control, and part of its regional strategy. But when addressing Western audiences, Iran often claims that while the groups share similar views, the Islamic Republic does not lead them, Mr. al-Sulami said.

“Iran is very clever in using this gray zone to maneuver,” he said.

Vivian Nereim contributed reporting from Saudi Arabia,