Led by Iran from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean coast,
the informal Axis of Resistance alliance has confronted Israel
since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, a conflict that threatens to spread after the massive launch of missiles and drones by They will go to the Jewish State.
In its first attack against Israeli territory, Iran
launched more than 300 missiles
and drones last night in retaliation for the bombing of its consulate in Damascus on April 1, in which six Syrians and seven members of the Revolutionary Guard died, and which Tehran accused. to Tel Aviv.
According to the Pentagon, the Islamic Republic's announced response
was "launched from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen
," where Tehran leads a network of rebel groups and powerful militias that wage their war against Israel and the United States in different ways in support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
These are Iran's main allies, possible targets of an Israeli response.
Hezbollah, the flagship
Considered Iran's most powerful ally in the Middle East,
the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah
has been involved in a measured but intense exchange of fire with Israel mainly on the common divide since October 8, a day after the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Coinciding with the Iranian attack on Israeli territory, the armed group announced
the launch of "dozens" of rockets
towards an important military base in northern Israel and, later, claimed responsibility for another barrage against three military posts in the northern Golan Heights.
Israeli aircraft, in response, bombed a building in the Bekaa Valley, a region in eastern Lebanon far from the common border where clashes usually occur and which has been attacked by the Jewish State several times in recent weeks. .
In Lebanon and Israel, six months of clashes have
already left more than 150,000 displaced on both sides
of the border, as well as nearly twenty dead on the Israeli side and more than 330 on the Lebanese side.
The Houthis, in the spotlight
Yemen's Houthi rebels
have demonstrated their capabilities by launching missiles and drones against Israel, as well as attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea since late November to damage the Israeli economy and its Western allies.
The severe disruptions caused by these attacks and the Houthi threat to Israel caused the United States and the United Kingdom to begin a bombing campaign against insurgent positions in Yemen in mid-January, although the group assures that it will not deter them.
The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for launching projectiles simultaneously with Iran's attack against Israel, although Washington and several organizations denounce that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has units deployed in several areas of Yemen controlled by the insurgents.
Iraq's militias unleashed
Despite having more limited capabilities than Hezbollah and the Houthis,
the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq
has claimed responsibility for launching around 200 attacks against bases with a US presence in Iraqi and Syrian territory, although it has also occasionally targeted southern Iraq. Israel.
The group, made up of an amalgamation of militias loyal to Iran
operating in Iraq and in the border area in eastern Syria
, has kept a low profile after one of its drones killed three US soldiers on the border in January. Jordan and Syria.
This provoked an angry response from Washington, which heavily bombed positions of these armed groups in both Iraq and Syria, leaving dozens dead and setting off all the alarms about the opening of a new war front that would involve a direct confrontation with Iran. .
The Iraqi government, which
maintains a delicate balance between Tehran and Washington
, has warned its two allies that its territory is not a battlefield, after Iran also launched missiles against northern Iraq in January, alleging that they were targeting a headquarters. of the Israeli Mossad.
EFE Agency
P.B.