Experts Express Concern Over Activities of 19 Proxy Groups of the Islamic Republic Around Israel

Experts on Iranian affairs and Middle Eastern militia groups have warned about the activities and strategic changes of armed groups supported by the Islamic Republic in the Middle East. In a meeting hosted by the bipartisan think tank "Foundation for Defense of Democracies" (FDD) on Tuesday, Joe Truzman, a researcher specializing in Palestinian militant groups and Hezbollah, stated that 19 militia groups supported by the Islamic Republic are active "around the borders of Israel." He mentioned that some of these groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, have been in the news, while others have not. This expert noted that some of these militant groups are under U.S. sanctions, but not all of them are. Truzman explained that while groups like Hamas receive assistance from Iran, they have a degree of "autonomy," whereas others, particularly Iraqi groups in Syria or Islamic Jihad, are directly under Iran's command. He pointed out that Hamas is trying to recruit teenagers through its propaganda against Israel in summer camps. According to him, Iran does not care whether a group is Sunni, Shia, or Christian, as long as they are willing to take up arms against Israel, which is why there are 19 militia groups present at the borders surrounding Israel. Jonathan Schanzer, another Middle East expert at FDD and author of the book "The 2021 Gaza Conflict," noted that Iranian proxy groups now have a "strategy" that was not present before. He stated that there is currently an increase in coordination among militia groups, and this strategy has been developed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to dictate what each group should do. He explained that while Hamas may have previously fired rockets without calculation, it is now more strategic. Schanzer elaborated on Hamas's new strategy, which controls the Gaza Strip, stating that the group is now increasing its influence in the West Bank under Iran's guidance. He mentioned that Hamas lacks popularity because, as a terrorist group, it cannot provide services to Palestinians in Gaza and knows that if it attacks Israel from Gaza, it will be targeted, worsening its situation. Therefore, it acts against Israel from the West Bank, which is controlled by its rival, the Fatah group. Israeli officials recently attacked the Jenin camp in the West Bank, which they described as a counter-terrorism measure. Jonathan Kenrick, a member of the "Israeli Security and Defense Forum" who has served in the Israeli army for 24 years, stated that he believes the focus will shift to Nablus after Jenin, where militia activities have increased. He noted that the Israeli army's operation in Jenin was limited compared to what the media portrayed and that it destroyed infrastructure used by terrorists. In the Q&A section, responding to a question from Voice of America regarding previous claims in Iran that Russia deactivates radars in Syria for Israeli operations, he said Israeli forces need such support for operations in Syria. However, he noted that Russia has not used its missiles against Israel and does not want to damage the reputation of its military equipment by showing its systems as ineffective against the Israeli Air Force. Schanzer discussed Israel's efforts to prevent the delivery of precision missiles from Iran to Hezbollah, stating that some of these shipments have reached Hezbollah, which is estimated to possess around 500 precision-guided missiles. He deemed this very dangerous and expressed uncertainty about how the Iron Dome defense system would perform against these missiles, especially if Hezbollah combines them with approximately 150,000 imprecise rockets in a full-scale war. He pointed out that under such circumstances, it is unclear how the air defense system would distinguish between precision missiles and those without such capabilities. Kenrick also addressed what Israel would do if it were attacked simultaneously from all fronts by proxy groups around Iran, stating that in such a scenario, Israel would no longer rely on precision weapons that cause fewer civilian casualties and would have to use heavy artillery that causes widespread damage.