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Iran

Spotlight on Iran (December 15, 2022 – December 29, 2022)

Additional strikes attributed to Israel were carried out in the area of Damascus and al-Qsair Military Airport west of Homs city. Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) significantly increased the salaries of fighters and civilians serving within the pro-Iranian militias in eastern Syria. A Lebanese news website reported, that Iran is willing to provide fuel to Lebanon.The Commander of the IRGC’s Qods Force, declared that Israel is in dire straits, and soon enough, the Palestinians will expel Israel from Palestine.
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Spotlight on Iran (December 1, 2022 – December 15, 2022)

The Saudi channel al-Arabiya reported that the Iranian Airline Meraj, which is linked to the IRGC, began operating regular direct flights to the Beirut International Airport from Tehran. Israel is concerned these flights would be used to smuggle weaponry from Iran to Lebanese Hezbollah. An Iranian oil tanker, previously detained by Greece owing to American pressure, approached the shores of Banyas. The American Navy stopped a fishing boat in the Gulf of Oman, which was en route from Iran to Yemen, and was carrying over one million bullets as well as components to manufacture rockets, intended to reach the Houthis in Yemen
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Spotlight on Iran (November 17, 2022 – December 1, 2022)

A senior officer in the Aerospace force of the IRGC was assassinated in Syria. The IRGC statement alleged that he was assassinated by Israel and vowed to avenge his death. A Syrian pro-opposition outlet reported that an Iranian surface to air missile system was recently deployed in the area of Damascus following recent airstrikes against targets of the pro-Iranian militias in Syria. The strikes have been widely attributed to Israel. In late November, the Iraqi Prime Minister arrived for a visit in Iran.
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Spotlight on Iran (November 3, 2022 – November 17, 2022)

On the night of November 8th, a convoy of fuel trucks was struck with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) near the Iraq-Syria border crossing. The pro-regime Syrian newspaper al-Watan reported, based on sources in Tehran, about a decision of the Iranian government to increase the export of oil to Syria to three million barrels per month. The secretary general of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought visited Syria and met with the Syrian minister of religious endowments and Syrian clerics and discussed ways to further religious cooperation between the two countries. In mid-November, the commander of the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) arrived for a visit to Baghdad, where he met with senior Iraqi government officials and leaders of pro-Iranian Shia factions. The chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces spoke on the phone with Iraq’s incoming minister of defense and expressed willingness to expand Iranian military and security assistance to Iraq. In early November, the Iranian ambassador to Damascus met with representatives of Palestinian factions in Syria.
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The Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq – the current situation

The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 undermined the internal order in the country and brought about, among other things, the establishment of several pro-Iranian militias affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Qods Force. The militias were set up with the purpose of driving the US forces out of Iraq and establishing Iranian involvement in the country. Prominent among the militias are Asa’ib Ahl al-Haqq (“League of the Righteous”), Kata’ib Hezbollah (“Hezbollah Battalions”), Harakat al-Nujaba (“the Movement of the Noble Ones”), and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (“The Master of Martyrs Brigade”). The militias indeed operated in Iraq over the years against the US-led Global Coalition forces and contributed to the pullout of the forces from Iraq in late 2011. In 2014, they were integrated into the Popular Mobilization Forces (hereinafter: the PMF), which was intended to fight against ISIS, and since then they have become an integral part of the military establishment in Iraq and also integrated into Iraqi politics. The militias continue working to strengthen the Iranian involvement in Iraq and sever Iraq’s ties with the United States. They are also part of the Axis of Resistance, where they also operate outside Iraq, especially in Syria, including the border area with Israel. Following the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Qods Force, and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the deputy chief of the PMF and commander of the pro-Iranian militia Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Battalions), on January 3, 2020, in a targeted killing by the US, there have been changes in the activity of the Iraqi pro-Iranian militias. These changes included personal changes in the leadership, the establishment of new militias as façades of the existing ones in order to maintain a low profile while carrying out attacks, and the expansion of the militias’ involvement in internal Iraqi as well as regional and global issues, such as the struggle a
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Spotlight on Terrorism : Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria (October 26 – November 7, 2022)

The Israeli Knesset election results caused concern in Lebanon regarding Israel's abiding by the terms of the maritime border agreement, which could lead to a military confrontation. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is working to create a large parliamentary bloc to elect a Lebanese president sympathetic to the Shi'ites. With Iranian support, Hezbollah has become a significant Internet and cyber power, part of Iran's battle for hearts and minds.
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Iran

Exporting the Islamic Revolution was one of the Iranian Revolution’s original, basic objectives. Iran seeks regional hegemony and more than that – dominance of the Muslim world. To that end, Iran has developed a network of underground organizations and terrorist groups within Islamic (especially Shiite) communities in the Middle East and around the world, including Africa, Latin America, Asia and beyond. In the Middle East, Iran is leading an anti-American and anti-Israeli Shiite axis struggling against the Middle Eastern Sunni countries led by Saudi Arabia. The Iranian axis (the “Axis of Resistance”) includes Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Bahrain. In these countries, Iran handles proxy organizations operating to promote Iran’s interests.

Israeli-Iranian relations had their ups and downs. During the reign of the Shah of Iran, the two countries were allied politically. After the revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Iran revoked its recognition of Israel and ended all official relations with it.

To implement its anti-Israeli policies, Iran has broadened its ties to the terrorist organizations operating against Israel. Iran instigates terrorist organizations, especially the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, to attack Israel, and finances and arms both organizations. In recent years, large shipments of weapons from Iran have been intercepted as they were en route to the Palestinian terrorist organizations.


To promote its regional and global interests and aspirations, Iran is developing military nuclear capabilities. It is also developing long-range missiles and warheads which can reach Israel, the rest of the Middle East, and Europe.