Axis of Resistance
Leaders
Group(s)Primary
List
HeadquartersIran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen
IdeologyRevolutionary Shia Islamism
Anti-Zionism
Anti-Westernism
Opposition to American, Israeli and Gulf states' interests in the Middle East
Opposition to the MEK[10]
Political positionBig tent
StatusActive unofficial military alliance
Allies
Allies

Non-state allies

Opponents
Opponents

Non-state opponents

Former opponents
Battles and warsIran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, Iran–Israel proxy conflict, Syrian Civil War, Israel–Hamas war

The Axis of Resistance (Persian: محور مقاومت Mehvar–e Moqâvemat;[29] Arabic: محور المقاومة Miḥwar al-Muqāwamah) is an informal Iranian-led political and military coalition in West Asia and North Africa.[30][31] It most notably includes the Syrian government, the Lebanese political party and militant group Hezbollah, the Yemeni political and military organization Ansar Allah, and a variety of Palestinian militant groups.[32][33][34]

Despite the alliance members' differing ideologies,[35] they are all unified by their declared objectives of opposing the regional influence of the Western countries; Israel; the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf; and, specifically in the case of the Shia–Sunni divide, certain Sunni Islamists who are perceived as posing a threat to the Iranian ideology of Shia Islamism.[36] The growing political and military influence of the Iranian government throughout the region has played a role in fuelling a number of wars throughout the Arab world, particularly in the context of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict and the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, and has thus been cited as one of the main factors driving Arab–Israeli normalization; the equally informal Arab–Israeli alliance emerged between Israel and a number of Arab countries around 2019 in order to address their concerns regarding security threats from Iran or Iranian proxies.

Ali Khamenei, who has served as the Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989, has repeatedly defined the Islamic Republic government as a "resistance government" (i.e., against Western and Israeli influence).[37] Though the Axis of Resistance operates primarily in the Middle East, the Iranian government has attempted to export the alliance's ideology at a global level; Iran and Iran-aligned proxies have attacked Jewish, Israeli, and American organizations abroad. During a meeting with Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel in December 2023, Khamenei formally called on the people of Cuba to form a similar coalition against the "bullying" of the United States and other Western countries.[38]

History

In the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, some of the most radical founders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards such as Mohammad Montazeri (who had been trained by the Palestinian Fatah in Southern Lebanon and maintained close relations with Gaddafi's Libya) and Mostafa Chamran (who had visited Cuba and was influenced by revolutionary internationalism) strove to create what is often called an "Islamic Internationale",[39] drawing upon Ali Shariati's and Ayatollah Khomeini's notions of the "solidarity of the oppressed."[40] Montazeri and Chamran, along with Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur, Iran's ambassador to Syria from 1982, created the Department for Islamic Liberation Movements, as part of the People's Revolutionary Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose aim was to bring together the activities of the outlawed Iraqi Islamic Dawa Party and Badr Organization with those of the Lebanese Amal and Hezbollah movements.[41] The Department for Islamic Liberation Movements is thought to have been the starting point of Iranian attempts of forging what was later to become known as the Axis of Resistance.[42]

The term "Axis of Resistance" was first used by the Libyan daily newspaper Al-Zahf Al-Akhdar in response to American president George W. Bush's claim that Iran, Iraq, and North Korea formed an "axis of evil." In an article titled "Axis of evil or axis of resistance", the paper wrote in 2002 that "the only common denominator among Iran, Iraq, and North Korea is their resistance to US hegemony."[43] The Iranian newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami subsequently adopted the language in reference to the Shia insurgency in Iraq, writing in 2004 that "if the line of Iraq's Shi'is needs to be linked, united, and consolidated, this unity should be realized on the axis of resistance and struggle against the occupiers."[44]

In 2006, the Palestinian minister of the interior, Said Saim, used the term during an interview at Al-Alam television to refer to common political goals among Arabs in opposition to those of Israel or the United States. Noting the large number of Palestinian refugees in Syria, Saim stated, "Syria is also an Islamic Arab country and is also targeted by the Americans and the Zionists. Hence, we see in Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas an axis of resistance in front of these pressures."[45]

The term "axis of resistance" was used as early as August 2010.[46] After two years, Ali Akbar Velayati, senior advisor for foreign affairs to Iran's supreme leader, used the term and said:

The chain of resistance against Israel by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, the new Iraqi government, and Hamas passes through the Syrian highway... Syria is the golden ring of the chain of resistance against Israel.[47]

The phrase was used again in August 2012 during a meeting between Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, regarding the Syrian Civil War.[48] Velayati said:

What is happening in Syria is not an internal issue, but a conflict between the axis of resistance and its enemies in the region and the world. Iran will not tolerate, in any form, the breaking of the axis of resistance, of which Syria is an intrinsic part.[47]

The Syrian state-run news agency, SANA, has stated that the two governments discussed their "strategic cooperation relationship" and "attempts by some Western countries and their allies to strike at the axis of resistance by targeting Syria and supporting terrorism there."[48] The alliance has been described as an "Axis of Terror" by the prime minister and ambassadors of Israel.[49][50][51]

Bashar al-Assad, Ali Khamenei and Hassan Nasrallah

At first, the alliance consisted of the Syrian government and Lebanese Hezbollah. Years later, Iran, already closely aligned with Syria and Hezbollah, would form stronger relations between the three, creating the axis. Iraqi and Yemeni militants coordinating with Iran came in as the newest members of this alliance.[52] After the beginning of Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War, a slew of posters showing images of Nasrallah, Assad, Khamenei, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, have appeared with an Arabic caption meaning, "Men who bow to no one but God." The posters suggest another emerging regional Axis of Resistance, according to The Hill. However, this coalition has been described as "deeply polarising" for its sectarian targeting of Sunni Syrians.[12] Hezbollah's actions have also arisen denunciation in Lebanon, most notably from Lebanese President Michael Sulieman, who demanded an end to unilateral armed maneuvers by Hezbollah. Grievance is also widespread amongst Lebanon's Sunni minority, who charge Hezbollah with engaging in sectarian violence against other Muslims, and of forfeiting its anti-Zionist stance.[53] With Hezbollah's intensifying participation in the Syrian civil war following the years after 2013, the coalition has become explicitly Khomeinist and anti-Sunni; with the Assad regime becoming beholden and subservient to Iran and its proxies for continued existence. Alienated by sectarian policies, Sunni Islamists such as Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas began publicly opposing Iran and Hezbollah and have aligned closely with Turkey and Qatar, countries which are engaged in geo-political competition with Iran.[54][55]

Analysis

Members, aims, ideological currents, and allies

The axis has been described as altering "the strategic balance in the Middle East" by assisting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to remain in power and backing his war-crimes against Syrian civilians.[56] According to Marisa Sullivan, the programme and aims of the Axis have three main pillars; shared regional objective in preserving the Assad regime, maintaining access to supplies of weapons and money from Iran, and stopping a Sunni-majority government from ever coming to power in Syria.[57] The current ruling Syrian Ba'ath party elites are primarily made up of Alawites, who are an offshoot sect of Shiism, which is also the majority sect of Iran.[58] This common background has made them strategic allies on various issues, including defense.[59]

Despite the Axis of Resistance being composed of primarily Shia Islamist factions, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular Marxist-Leninist formation, is generally considered part of the Axis of Resistance, and receives support from Iran.[60][61] The Sunni Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has also at times been considered part of the axis due to its opposition to Israel and the United States. However, as of March 2012, the group has since pulled its headquarters out of Damascus and thrown its support behind the anti-Assad Syrian opposition.[62][63] However, in October 2022, Hamas restored ties with Syria after reconciliation with the support of mediation by Iran.[64][65]

Russia is considered by the Syrian government and Iran to be part of or an ally of the Axis,[citation needed] and Russia has militarily intervened in Syria in support of Bashar al-Assad. However, Russia has also maintained friendly relations with Arab Gulf States; with the objective of deepening economic co-operation, particularly in the energy sector.[66] It has deepened economic, security and energy co-operation with the GCC countries to reduce American influence in the region and has been pursuing normalisation of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia.[67] Russia and Israel have also maintained friendly relations. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu refused calls to impose sanctions on Russia or to send missile defense technology to Ukraine.[68][69] During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Russia condemned both the Hamas attack and Israel's response,[70] but Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that Israel's goals in Gaza were similar to Russia's goals in Ukraine.[71][72]

According to Jubin Goodarzi, an assistant professor and researcher at Webster University, the Iranian–Syrian alliance that was formed in 1979 is of great importance to the emergence and continuity of the axis of resistance. Both countries are in key locations of the Middle East, and they have been affecting Middle Eastern politics during the past three decades. Also, the alliance is considered to be an enduring one, lasting 34 years "in spite of the many challenges that it has faced and periodic strains in the relationship".[47]

Purposes for the Axis

Main article: Iran–Israel proxy conflict

The axis claims to be against Israel in order to shore up popular support across the Islamic world, according to Tallha Abdulrazaq, writing in the Middle East Monitor, and it took a severe blow after the Israeli Mazraat Amal air strike.[73][better source needed] Three days before that airstrike against the Hizbollah convoy, Hizbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah said: "...we consider that any strike against Syria is a strike against the whole of the resistance axis, not just against Syria."[74]

War against the Islamic State

Main article: International military intervention against ISIL

Hezbollah rejects the idea of Lebanon helping in the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq, against the Islamic State arguing that it may lead to the U.S. domination in the region or "substituting terrorism with flagrant US occupation".[75]

Relations with the Taliban

Main articles: Afghanistan–Iran relations and International relations with the Taliban

Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, described the Taliban-led Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as part of the Axis of Resistance, with Iran at its core, a coalition of nations seeking "resistance, independence, and freedom."[76] The prominent Principlist daily publication in Iran, Kayhan, also referred to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as a member of the Axis of Resistance.[77][78] However, Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force said in September 2021 that past sectarian conflicts have shown that the Taliban government was "no friend of Iran".[76] Since then, border clashes had occurred at their shared border in 2021 and 2023, claiming several lives on both sides.[79][80]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Hurras al-Din (HaD) is the successor organization of Al-Nusra Front and the current branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria.

References

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