The “axis of resistance” is a network of autonomous militant Islamist groups through which Iran can project power, determine the course of events and deter attack by Israel or the US. The axis is so central to the current conflict that on 7 October, as the bloody attack on Israel was still under way, Hamas’s military commander called on the network to join the struggle. “Our brothers in the Islamic resistance in Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Iraq and Syria, this is the day when your resistance unites with your people in Palestine,” Mohammed Deif said in an audio message.
Since then, those allies have joined a much broader regional conflict, with varying enthusiasm. Together they constitute a very potent and unconventional coalition. Its roots lie in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which brought to power radical Shia Muslim clerics keen on exporting their brand of extremism across the Islamic world.
