Iran terror proxies on alert after US, Israel launch strikes against regime

The Islamic Republic of Iran has built a coalition of largely Shiite terrorist proxies—the Axis of Resistance—that is set to join Tehran in counterstrikes in response to joint US-Israeli preemptive attacks on Iranian military facilities and its leadership.

Iran’s most dangerous ally is its main strategic partner, which is… The Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah. The Israeli army was intensively targeting Hezbollah positions before the American campaign. Operation Epic Rage.

A flag bearing a picture of the assassinated pro-Iranian Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, flutters in front of a picture of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during a celebration of the first anniversary of Nasrallah’s assassination in an Israeli air strike on his grave in Beirut. Beirut, Lebanon, September 27, 2025. (Marwan Noamani/Picture Alliance/DPA/AP)

Hezbollah

The Lebanese Armed Forces are obligated to disarm Hezbollah, under a ceasefire agreement with Israel in November 2024. “In Lebanon, we continue to act daily against attempts by the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” IDF spokesman Evi Devrin said on Friday. To rebuild and arm“.

He said: “An example of this is the strike we carried out yesterday in the Baalbek area, during which we targeted ammunition depots and eliminated terrorists from the Radwan Force. We will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its capabilities and pose a threat to Israeli civilians.”

If Khamenei falls, who will take Iran? The strikes will reveal a power vacuum – and the grip of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard

Smoke rises over the city after the Israeli military launched a second wave of air strikes on Iran in Tehran on February 28, 2026. (Fatima Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A Hezbollah official said on Wednesday that the jihadist terrorist organization would not intervene militarily if the United States launched “limited” strikes on Iran. However, the Hezbollah official said they are looking into any attack against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei It is a “red line”.

According to the Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center (ALMA), “Hezbollah possesses a significant combat force estimated at approx. 40,000-50,000 Active combatants and an additional 30,000-50,000 reserve soldiers. The Radwan unit is the center of its offensive structure, which Hezbollah is making great efforts to rebuild and restore.

Iran is rebuilding its relations with Hezbollah while Trump gives a 10-15 day deadline. (Fadel Itani/Nour Photo via Getty Images)

IDF Lt. Col. (res.) Sarit Zehavi, president and founder of Alma in northern Israel, told Fox News Digital, “The Lebanese army is not making much effort to disarm Hezbollah. The result of this is that good intentions are just words. As a resident of the north, I have not seen any systematic disarmament.”

Eddie Cohen, a Lebanese-born Israeli Hezbollah researcher, told Fox News Digital that “the Lebanese population does not consider Hezbollah a resistance” because Hezbollah lost its last war against Israel. He said Hezbollah had failed in its efforts to help Hamas in Gaza To defeat Israel after its invasion of the Jewish state on October 7, 2023.

Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces:

The second Iranian-backed proxy is the Shiite militia movement in Iraq. Intifad Qanbar, a former spokesman for the Iraqi deputy prime minister, told Fox News Digital that he believes the Shiite militia will join Iran in the war: “Many of the second-rate Shiite leaders, the militia tycoons, as I like to call them, have ambitions to rise up and challenge the aging high command. They have accumulated enormous wealth, and the only way they can compete with the old guard is to prove to Iran that they are bold, reckless, and willing to fight back.” About Tehran.

A general view taken on April 5, 2015 shows members of the Popular Mobilization Units – paramilitary forces dominated by Iranian-backed Shiite militias – carrying an Islamic flag in Tikrit after Iraqi forces retook the northern city from Islamic State jihadists earlier in the month. (Mohamed Sawaf/AFP via Getty Images)

He added: “Their ambitions have blinded their rational thinking. These are militia terrorists who understand little about the outside world, and yet they are dangerously overconfident. They are loose cannons, completely out of control and Iran is willing to throw them into the fire because they are expendable. That’s why you see Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq issuing threats, while older, more established militias like Lebanon’s Hezbollah have made it clear they will not participate.”

The Iraqi militia loyal to Iran accused the United States of bombing it and vowed to respond on Saturday. Kataib Hezbollah said that the United States was responsible for the strike that targeted an Iraqi military base housing Iranian militias. The Iraqi terrorist group says it “will soon begin attacking American bases in response to its attacks.”

Houthi terrorists walk over British and American flags in a march in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and recent Houthi strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on February 4, 2024, on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen. (Mohamed Hammoud/Getty Images)

Houthis:

The third part of the resistance axis is the Houthi movement in Yemen.

The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have decided to resume missile and drone attacks on shipping routes and on Israel in support of Iran, according to two senior Houthi officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because there is no official announcement from the Houthi leadership, according to the Associated Press.

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One official said the first rebel attack could come “tonight.” The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in the Gaza Strip is also part of the axis of resistance, and Hamas and Iran are also partners in their campaigns to destroy the Jewish state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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