Iran is seeking to unify even more fronts against Israel and the US. Iranian pro-regime and IRGC-linked media reported that Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria have been increasing their attacks on US forces and are targeting American and Israeli bases with synergy. This front now includes not only pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria that concentrate attacks on US bases, but also the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The details were announced the same day as at least 20 launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory, setting off alarms in the Golan and Hula Valley. NBC reported that “rockets launched from Lebanon reached deeper into Israeli territory Monday than any since the 2006 war, as the Hezbollah militant group’s second-in-command threatened to escalate cross-border attacks if Israel continues its deadly assault on the Gaza Strip.”
The threats from Hezbollah were repeated at Iran’s pro-regime Fars News. In that article, Hezbollah claimed that the US and Israel were both involved in the “invasion” of Gaza, further noting that Iranian-backed militant groups across the Middle East launched an unprecedented array of attacks against American targets. The Tasnim report provides unique details that go beyond previous Iranian reports about attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria. There have been around 40 attacks since October 7; the report notes that “the radius of operations of the Islamic resistance of Iraq covers from the ‘Port of Eilat’ in the southernmost point of occupied Palestine to the ‘Tal Bidr base’ in the extreme northeast of Syria.” This is an open admission that Iranian proxies are coordinating with each other.
Iran is openly pinpointing the bases that are being attacked in Iraq and Syria, noting as well the unification of the efforts by the Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria. “It is noteworthy that the geographical distance of Tel Bider [Tal Baydar] base from the areas under the influence of the resistance in Syria and Iraq, and this point shows that if the drones of the resistance reach Tel Bider, then none of the American military bases will have security throughout the territory of Syria and Iraq. They will not be immune from the resistance’s suicide drones,” the report reads. At the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) researchers have also noted the Iranian increase in threats. “Iran increases the pressure on the US to stop the war in Gaza,” INSS researcher Sima Shine wrote.
Taken together, the pattern is clear. Iran now harnesses militias in Iraq and Syria and keys them in with the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon to carry out a regional series of increasing threats against both the US and Israel.
