‘Iran-backed joint command arranging US and Israel attacks’
Iran-backed armed factions in the Middle East have established a daily co-ordination process through a joint command since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, group officials and militants have told
The National.
These activities are mainly focused on picking up targets and the timings of attacks against Israel and US forces, they said.
While regional militias have co-ordinated in the past, the level of co-operation has sharply increased since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7.
This enhanced level of co-operation aligns with the “united front” vision of late Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps senior commander Maj Gen Qassem Suleimani, who was assassinated by the US.
Suleimani, who once claimed to have been present with Hezbollah in Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel, commanded the Quds Force, the branch of the IRGC that works with militia forces in the region, building proxy units as a bulwark against Israel.
Four years after a drone strike that killed him near Baghdad Airport on January 3, 2020, his vision of an Iranian-led bloc of groups, from Lebanon to Yemen, looks more realistic.
Representatives of Iraqi militia groups – mainly the powerful Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid Al Shuhada – said they had been attending meetings inside a joint operation command in southern Lebanon with Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian officials.
“The co-ordination with Iran was daily routine before October, but it has increased since then with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and other factions in the region,” an Iraqi militia representative said. “Our role at this stage in our front is to focus on the US troops in Iraq and Syria, while our brothers in Yemen and Lebanon can do the other part.”
Co-ordination inside the joint command focuses on “picking up targets, the timing and on updating each other on developments in each area”, he said.
Unlike other factions, the
Iraqis have not been involved in direct military action with Israel. Instead, their role has been limited to drone and missile attacks against US troops in Iraq and Syria, the officials said.
Although the armed groups have claimed minor attacks in the occupied Golan Heights and Eilat, their objective is to force US troops out of Iraq and Syria, a militia leader said.
The US has about 2,500 troops in Iraq, tasked with training Iraqi security forces, and about 9,000 in Syria.
In a sign of co-ordination with Iran, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq honoured a seven-day truce between Hamas and Israel in November.
“The idea of the united front has become clearer and more evident than ever before,” said a politician linked to the Co-ordination Framework, the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament, which includes militia representatives.
“I think this level of co-ordination between Iran and the factions within the Resistance Axis will continue to grow,” he said, adding that Iran’s power has “become stronger, rather than weaker, over time” as the country has sought to strengthen its various proxies across the region since Suleimani’s death.
The IRGC commander became a nemesis to US-led coalition forces in Iraq during their occupation of the country, helping to smuggle in weapons such as roadside bombs while working closely with allied Iraqi politicians to undermine US objectives.
Analysts say similar roadside bombs have been used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Iraqi militias and Hamas.
“In the years following Suleimani’s death, Iran hasn’t budged to the several pressures imposed or created against its ambitions in the region … demonstrating significant force and might in its latest events in the fight between Hamas and Israel,” said Imad Salamey, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.
The war in Gaza has revealed the extent to which Iran had strengthened itself through its proxies, acting as an “orchestrator” of the groups supporting Hamas, Prof Salamey said.
Tehran’s use of its various regional allies and proxies has made it “difficult for the US or Israel to concentrate military efforts on one front”, he added.
“Rather, it has been able to distract the campaigns by initiating multiple attacks on US forces.”
Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds significant influence, has emerged as the centre where Iran’s proxies are co-ordinated.
Hezbollah, which is commonly thought to rival the Lebanese army in strength, has engaged Israel in a cross-border conflict since October 8 in an attempt to distract its foe from the war in Gaza and support its strategic ally Hamas.
“Communication and co-ordination are controlled by multiple means. The leadership of each group is responsible for orchestrating details with the aim of supporting the resistance in Palestine,” said Kassem Kassir, a Lebanese political analyst close to Hezbollah.
But Prof Salamey said, while the militias retain autonomy over their domestic affairs, “when it comes to regional calculations and strategies, that’s when their autonomy becomes limited and beholden to Iran’s interest”.
Beyond Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Tehran’s proxies have also flourished in Yemen, where the Houthi rebels have taken over much of the east and north.
After Suleimani’s assassination in Baghdad, the Houthis accused Washington of committing a “war crime” and vowed revenge.
“The Houthis’ co-ordination with Iranian proxies has been ongoing for a long time. They don’t act without Tehran’s blessing,” a Yemeni government official told The National.
After years of co-operation with the IRGC’s Quds Force, the Houthis have an arsenal of ballistic missiles, including anti-ship missiles, as well as drones, which they have launched at rivals in the region.
The group has recently made efforts to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea, a transit point for up to 15 per cent of global trade, with the aim of damaging Israel’s economy.
“Iran’s allies instructed Houthi leaders in Sanaa to refrain from making public appearances and avoid using the same mobile phones in fear of being targeted by the US and Israel,” the Yemeni official said. “This is an Iran-led front.”
The Israel-Gaza war has shown the extent to which Iran has used its proxies to strengthen its position, one expert said