Iran’s key regional allies have either collapsed or been significantly weakened—from the fall of the Assad regime to the weakening of Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis. Yet, Tehran has yet to fully come to terms with its setbacks. Although it understands that events can’t be reversed, it is still trying to foment chaos and instability in the hope that it can somehow regain its foothold in the region.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s response to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s dismissal of the Army-People-Resistance Formula was to fire—or at least facilitate the firing of—rockets at the Israeli settlement of Metula. Israel responded by pounding Lebanon and threatening to resume an all-out war.
Shared interests
In Syria, sworn enemies Iran and Israel have a shared interest in ensuring Syria remains unstable and weak, with both parties using “protecting minorities” as a pretext to extend their influence. For its part, Israel continues to bomb and seize Syrian territory, while Iran is using remnants of the Assad regime to foment instability. Some even anticipate that it could facilitate a resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) there.
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—emboldened by a slew of tactical victories against Iran’s ‘axis of resistance’—seems intent on pushing the region closer to the brink of all-out war. Facing mounting domestic pressure over his handling of the war on Gaza and failure to get the hostages back through implementing the ceasefire agreement, he seeks to distract an angry public by opening new war fronts.
