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Lebanon

Spotlight on Iran and the Shiite Axis (August 20-27, 2025)

Senior Iranian officials continued to threaten Israel against renewing the fighting with Iran; The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council rejected the claims that the “Resistance Front” is weakening and made it clear that Iran would continue its support for the “resistance” forces; The Iranian Supreme Leader said that Israel is “the most hated regime in the world” because of its “crimes” in the Gaza Strip. The Iranian foreign minister called for increased pressure on Israel over the continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip.; Senior Iranian officials reiterated their opposition to disarming Hezbollah and the Iraqi Shiite militias. The militias in Iraq made it clear to the government that they have no intention of giving up their weapons; The Houthis fired a missile with a cluster warhead at Israel for the first time. The IDF admitted that the interception attempts had failed. No casualties were reported. In response, the IDF attacked Houthi targets in Sana’a. The Houthis reported ten fatalities and made it clear that they would not stop the attacks “in support” of the Palestinians. Iran and the “Axis of Resistance” condemned the IDF attacks and praised the Houthis’ activity against Israel. 
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Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah and Lebanon (August 18 – 25, 2025)

IDF forces attacked Hezbollah facilities and eliminated terrorist operatives as part of the continued activity against Hezbollah's presence south Lebanon, which is in violation of the ceasefire understandings, and against the organization's efforts to rebuild its military capabilities and restore its arsenal. The forces attacked weapons depots and rocket and missile launchers in south Lebanon and eliminated three Hezbollah terrorist operatives; Hezbollah condemned the return of an Israeli citizen who had been held in Lebanon for a year and accused the government of irresponsibility and negligence; The American special envoy to Lebanon, Thomas Barrack, visited Israel in an effort to reduce IDF attacks in Lebanon. The Israeli prime minister's office stated that Israel was prepared to reduce its presence in south Lebanon if Lebanese security forces disarmed Hezbollah; An IDF-Lebanese army coordination mechanism has reportedly transferred hundreds of coordinates of Hezbollah targets since the ceasefire in November 2024, some based on reports from residents in south Lebanon; In preparation for the UN Security Council discussion on extending the UNIFIL mandate, Lebanese leaders emphasized the need for the UN force to remain. Parliament Speaker Berri wondered why the United States, as a guarantor of the ceasefire agreement, was trying to disrupt UNIFIL's activity; It was reported that the Lebanese army was about to finalize the plan to disarm Hezbollah and would present it to the Lebanese government on September 2, 2025. In an attempt to calm tensions following the government's decisions regarding its weapons monopoly, contacts were renewed between the office of the Lebanese president and Hezbollah representatives, who continued to insist the organization did not recognize the government's decisions and demanded they be rescinded. The Shi'ite mufti of Lebanon called Hezbollah's weapons "the weapons of God" and said no one could take them; Syrian security forces continue to prevent weapons from being smuggled from Syria into Lebanon for Hezbollah; The Palestinian Authority and Fatah in Lebanon announced that the transfer to the Lebanese army of a truck full of weapons in the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut symbolized the beginning of disarming the Palestinians in Lebanon, adding that transfers would continue in additional camps in the coming weeks. Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations said they would not give up their weapons until the "end of the Zionist occupation."
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Spotlight on Iran and the Shiite Axis (August 13—20, 2025)

The Iranian General Staff and the IRGC have once again warned Israel and the United States against resuming attacks on Iran. At the same time, the senior military advisor to the Supreme Leader of Iran estimated that fighting between Iran and Israel could resume at any moment; Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, visited Beirut and met with senior Lebanese government officials and the secretary-general of Hezbollah. The visit took place amid growing Iranian criticism of the Lebanese government’s decision to disarm Hezbollah; Larijani expressed concern over the situation in Syria, noting that the normalization of relations between Damascus and Tehran depends on the steps that will be taken by the Syrian government; The Houthis’ military spokesman claimed responsibility for two attacks on Ben Gurion Airport using ballistic missiles. The IDF Spokesperson said the missiles were intercepted. The IDF attacked a power plant in the Sana’a area, and the Houthis threatened to retaliate against IDF Navy vessels in Eilat; Amid the interception of another arms shipment to the Houthis, the senior advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader for international affairs, meeting with the Houthi ambassador in Tehran, stressed Iran’s support for the Houthi movement’s activities against Israel and its opposition to disarming Shiite militias in the region; The secretary-general of Kata’ib Hezbollah expressed opposition to disarming the militias in the country and called for supporting them with advanced weapons.
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Iranian Backing for the Houthis during the Gaza Strip War: the Seizure of the Al-Sharwa as a Test Case

Iran began transferring large-scale arms shipments to the Houthis in 2009, with the amounts increasing after the Houthi takeover of Sanaa and the coalition established to act against the Houthis led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE in 2014–2015. From Iran's perspective, backing the Houthis enables the Islamic Republic to gain a foothold in the strategic Red Sea region on Saudi Arabia's border and helps strengthen the "resistance axis" against Israel; Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, five attempts to smuggle weapons and other military equipment to the Houthis, allegedly sent by Iran, have been foiled. The contraband items included components for ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, UAVs, radar devices, and advanced systems for communications, control and signal jamming; On June 27, 2025, Yemeni forces opposed to the Houthis seized the vessel al-Sharwa, which carried more than 750 tons of weapons and military equipment disguised as civilian goods, including hundreds of cruise missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship missiles, advanced warheads, and hundreds of UAV engines, along with instruction manuals in Persian; Recorded confessions of the ship's seven crew members revealed the existence of a broad Iran-Houthi smuggling network which began operating in 2013 and spans countries from the Middle East to Africa. The confessions exposed the smuggling routes from Iran to the Houthis and the identities of senior Houthis involved in operating the network who are in contact with the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah; Iranian officials denied that Tehran transferred munitions to the Houthis and claimed it was American propaganda intended to divert attention from [alleged] "Zionist crimes"; In ITIC assessment the seizure of the weapons and the exposure of the Iran-Houthi smuggling network indicate Iranian efforts to back the Houthis and suggest there were many other shipments which were not intercepted and did reach the Houthis. Despite the seizure of the al-Sharwa, it can be assumed that Iran and the Houthis will continue their efforts to smuggle weapons through routes that bypass American and Allied monitoring and control measures in the Red Sea. In addition, the use of boats which do not require complex mechanical systems for unloading enables the Houthis to continue their smuggling activities despite Israel's damage to their seaports.
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Spotlight on Iran and the Shiite Axis (August 6—13, 2025)

The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the Israeli cabinet’s decision in favor of occupying the Gaza Strip; According to a commentary published on the Iranian Supreme Leader’s official website, the 12-day war with Israel and the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, should be seen as an expression of long-term strategic planning led by Iran to strengthen the “resistance front” and eliminate the “hegemony of the Zionist regime.”; Senior Iranian officials strongly criticized the Lebanese government’s decision to disarm Hezbollah, presenting it as an expression of an Israeli-American plan to weaken Hezbollah and the “axis of resistance.” Ali-Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, declared that this is “a dream that will not come true.”; Ali Larijani, the newly appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, visited Iraq and Lebanon amid growing internal tensions in the two countries and the growing pressure to disarm the Shiite militias; The Houthis’ military spokesman claimed responsibility for seven attacks against Israel using drones. The IDF Spokesperson announced three incidents of intercepting drones; An investigation of crew members who were on a ship carrying 750 tons of weapons from Iran to the Houthis revealed an extensive smuggling network of Iran and the Houthis in the Middle East and Africa. Anti-Houthi forces captured another ship carrying military equipment from China; It was reported that the Americans urged the Iraqi government to dismantle the militias’ drones and missiles and threatened to take military action if the Iraqi authorities did not do so.
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Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah and Lebanon (August 5 – 11, 2025)

IDF forces attacked Hezbollah infrastructure and eliminated operatives of the organization as part of its continued activity against Hezbollah's presence in south Lebanon, in violation of the understandings of the ceasefire agreement, and against the organization's efforts to renew its military capabilities and restore its arsenal. Facilities in south Lebanon for storing engineering equipment for the restoration of capabilities were attacked and three Hezbollah operatives were eliminated, as was a senior terrorist operative from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Hezbollah secretary general Na'im Qassem reported that the organization had lost about 5,000 operatives in the campaign against Israel before the November 2024 ceasefire. In his assessment, Israel would not launch a new large-scale operation in Lebanon since the response would be missile fire into its territory; Six Lebanese army soldiers were killed in an explosion in a tunnel used for storing Hezbollah weapons near Tyre. A UNIFIL force uncovered a tunnel network with weapons in south Lebanon; The Lebanese government instructed the army to prepare a plan to disarm and dismantle all armed militias, including Hezbollah, by the end of the current year, and approved the principles of the document received from American special envoy Thomas Barrack. Hezbollah stated that it would ignore the government's decisions and warned that no one would be able to disarm the "resistance."; According to reports, Hezbollah's public health organization suspended hospitalization payments for the families of Hezbollah operatives, a consequence of its economic crisis
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