DUBAI, Aug 5 (Reuters) – If Iran retaliates for the killing of its close ally Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, its regional allies – known as the “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and U.S. influence in the Middle East – are likely to join in.
Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis: Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' Explained | WSJ
The Axis powers have been built up over decades with the support of Iran. They include not only Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that sparked the war in Gaza by attacking Israel on October 7, but also the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, the Houthi militia in Yemen and various Shiite Muslim groups in Iraq and Syria.
Hezbollah, which means “Party of God,” was founded in 1982 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to fight Israeli forces that had invaded Lebanon earlier that year.
The heavily armed group, which is also an influential player in Lebanese politics, shares Iran's Shiite Islamist ideology and is widely seen as more powerful than the Lebanese state.
