How Iran controls a network of armed groups to pursue its regional strategy

It took the US several days to respond to the January 28 attack on its military base in Jordan, which resulted within the death of three Jordanian soldiers. But when he did, he hit at the very least 85 targets across Iraq and Syria.

The Pentagon was careful not to attack Iran itself directly, but it surely did goal Iranian-backed groups that had been carrying out airstrikes on U.S. military facilities within the region even before Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7.

American attacks were rigorously calibrated to avoid them escalation. The five days between the attack on the U.S. Tower 22 base in Jordan and the U.S. airstrikes on February 2 gave Iran and its proxies time to move high-value people and assets.

This retaliation was not about counting victims, but about US President Joe Biden showing Iran – and the American electorate – that it just isn’t value messing with the US. It was a classic shot across the arc.

But who’re these groups that Iran can depend on to act in its interests, and what threat do they pose to regional security?

Iran’s foreign policy within the nearly five a long time because the 1979 revolution some key goals. He wants to remove the US from the Middle East and replace it because the guarantor of regional security.

It has contributed to the fortunes of Shiite groups within the region by acting directly against Saudi Arabia’s Sunni proxies, as seen within the conflict in Yemen. It refuses to recognize the state of Israel, as an alternative working with Palestinian groups akin to Hamas and Hezbollah to pressure the Jewish state.

Quds Force

The Quds Force is a component of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is the IRGC’s primary tool in foreign affairs. According to Council on Foreign RelationsQuds is essentially accountable for providing training, weapons, money and military advice to various groups within the so-called “Axis of Resistance”.

Quds was led by General Qasem Soleimani, who oversaw Shiite armed groups in Iraq and Syria and likewise had considerable influence inside Hezbollah in Lebanon. Soleimani was killed on January 3, 2020, in a US drone strike within the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

He was succeeded by his long-time deputy Ismail Shamewho gained extensive experience in organizing and supporting insurgent groups in Afghanistan.

Syria

In 2021, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he estimated it The IRGC has established 82 combat units in Syria with up to 70,000 fighters. Many of them have been recruited since 2011 to help Bashar al-Assad’s Shiite regime fight the insurgents there.

According to reports, Quds operations in Syria are supervised by: Khalil Zahedi, nicknamed Abu Mahdi al-Zahdi. Operating through subordinates within the region, it controls a number of armed groups, including Liwa al-Quds, Lebanese Hezbollah, the Fatemiyoun Brigade, Zainebiyoun Brigade, Hezbollah al-Nujaba, Liwa al-Baqir and Kata’ib al-Imam Ali.

Iran’s primary goals in Syria are to keep the Assad regime in power, maximize Iran’s influence, protect Shiite minorities, and limit and, if possible, eliminate the US presence in Syria. It also goals to create conditions for a possible encirclement of Israel by taking a strategic position across the Golan Heights.

Iraq

In Iraq, Iranian-backed armed groups have come under control because the US invasion umbrella organization called Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) or . The PMF claims to have as many as 230,000 fighters, mostly Shiites. PMF was founded in 2014 when Iraq’s Shiite religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling on Iraqis to defend their country after the autumn of the Iraqi army and the capture of the northern province of Mosul by the Islamic State.

In 2018, the PMF was incorporated into the Iraqi armed forces as an auxiliary force. As a result, his salary is paid by the Iraqi army, however the Iranian government lacks adequate command and control over the PMF. In the identical 12 months, the PMF’s political wing ran within the Iraqi elections, ending second within the poll. It also performed well in Iraq’s 2023 regional elections and is now believed to have significant control in each the Iraqi parliament and the country’s highest court.

These are actually believed to be his armed forces lively in Kurdistan as part of an overall strategy to force the United States to withdraw from the region.

Lebanon

North of Israel’s border with Lebanon, Hezbollah has been conducting military operations against Israel for a few years, and since October 7, clashes between Hezbollah forces and the Israel Defense Forces have grow to be almost day by day events.

Hezbollah (Party of God) was founded in 1982 to fight the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It was trained and equipped by Iran, which continues to provide virtually all of it to today financial and military resources. In my Manifesto of 1985he announced the expulsion of Western powers from Lebanon, called for the destruction of the state of Israel and pledged allegiance to the supreme leader of Iran.

In 2021, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed that the organization 100,000 trained fightersbut estimates of its actual strength vary greatly.

Hezbollah, although heavily involved politically and economically in Lebanon, can be lively throughout the region, does Iran’s business as an alternative of taking care of Lebanon’s interests.

A serious headache for the West

As seen with recent attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on shipping within the Red Sea (the Houthis are armed and trained by Iran as part of its civil war against the Saudi-backed Sunni national government), Iran’s proxies throughout the Middle East constitute a serious challenge.

Many of these groups now have significant political influence within the countries during which they’re embedded, so confronting them just isn’t just a military exercise. And because the dramatic increase in regional tensions following Hamas’s attack on Israel (also planned with Iran’s assistance) suggests, Iran is ready to foment trouble within the West across the region almost at will.