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Why Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ Is Missing in Action
Militia groups allied with Tehran have mostly stayed out of its war with Israel
—> https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-ea...6?st=fpvJyJ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink“… Lebanon’s Hezbollah, once seen as the most powerful in Iran’s Axis of Resistance, hasn’t fired a single missile since Israel attacked Iran. Its military capabilities and leadership have been decimated by Israeli forces over the past year. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, is a shadow of itself after 20 months of war with Israel that has seen its leaders killed and Gaza destroyed.
In Iraq, Iranian-backed Shiite militias haven’t targeted U.S. military bases, as they have in the past. And Yemen’s Houthi militia fired several missiles at Israel on Sunday, but have remained silent since.
The bruising wars have left Iran’s allies wary of taking on Israel, which has demonstrated vastly superior military and intelligence capabilities. Some are now focused on their own interests and have a lot to lose from an expanding war, such as Iraq’s militia members who are now making fortunes in the oil sector. Others, like Hezbollah, are trying to rebuild and nursing grievances over the lack of support from Tehran during the group’s war with Israel, according to Arab diplomats who speak to the group regularly.
“For all of these networks right now, it’s about survival,” said Renad Mansour, a senior fellow and Iraq Initiative project director at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. “They all understand the wrath of these types of military campaigns.”
… The eruption of conflict following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that left around 1,200 dead and 250 taken hostage touched off a string of blows to Iran, as Israel systematically targeted Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran did little to help either militia confront Israel on the battlefield.
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Israel was able to attack Iran with drones from inside the country and has had targeting information on many of Tehran’s top military and intelligence figures.
“I imagine it’s been very shocking to the Houthis to see quite how Iran is deeply penetrated by intelligence,” said Elisabeth Kendall, a Middle East expert and the head of the University of Cambridge’s Girton College. “They’ll probably be thinking that we should lie fairly low at the moment. We start maneuvering around, we give ourselves away, we reveal our locations.”
In Iraq, Shiite militia leaders have become careful with their use of technology. They use burner phones and frequently change their numbers. They are seldom online.
“They are all terrified of Israel,” said Mansour.…”
