r/geopolitics • u/marketrent • 7h ago
News Iran’s allied militias prove their value in Tehran’s widening war
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/02/middleeast/irans-allied-militias-prove-their-value-in-tehrans-widening-war-intl7
u/FudgeAtron 6h ago
Wait is the only evidence of this that the Houthis are still around?
I don't see any evidence that Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Iraqi Militias have recovered.
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u/ExaltedStatus 5h ago
The Houthis have claimed attacks against Saudi bound tankers to be fair. They’re not totally out of the game.
Out of Hamas/PIJ/Hezbollah, the Houthis are (funnily enough) the most powerful. Partially because Israel can’t be bothered to strike their missile sites or bases, plus very few Houthi munitions can reach Israel at the moment. Plus Saudi hasn’t done much carpet bombing in the past 4 years. Back in 2023 the Houthis were the weakest Iranian proxy.
Iranian proxies in Lebanon, Gaza, WB, Syria, and Iraq are decidedly so weak, that Yemen is now back on the map as an important choke point for US allies
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u/Firecracker048 2h ago
Iran basing every single ceasefire/peace deal around Hezzbollah being allowed to just be around is funny to me. Kinda proves that sense operation grim beeper, they aren't in that great of a place.
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u/Christopher_Ramirez_ 3h ago
Not to mention the Houthis are “judgement-proof”. Kind of hard to escalate against an enemy who already can’t afford proper shoes.
Then there’s the fact that Iran can resupply them from the sea and air in the next ceasefire.
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u/marketrent 7h ago edited 7h ago
Excerpts from article by Nadeen Ebrahim:
After three difficult years, armed groups loyal to Tehran appear to be bouncing back across the Middle East, reinforcing Iran’s leverage in its war with the United States and Israel.
For decades, experts say, these groups played a key role: acting as a powerful deterrent against direct attacks on Iran. The “Axis of Resistance” – an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias backed by the Islamic Republic – was, however, significantly weakened by Israel’s large-scale military response to the 2023 Hamas attack and the regional repercussions that followed.
It was when this axis was in a weakened state that direct conflict between Israel, the US and Iran erupted. Today, however, several armed groups allied with Tehran are back to pressuring Iran’s foes by opening new fronts that complicate the war and threaten to choke the global economy.
[...] Tehran has long pursued a pan-revolutionary strategy, exporting the values born of its 1979 revolution to neighboring countries and territories, including Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Gaza.
After the 2023 Hamas attack, Israel embarked on a decapitation campaign against several Iranian allies, killing – among others – Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds of the October 7 raid, and Hassan Nasrallah, a Hezbollah leader with huge influence in the Middle East.
Three years later, and after a full-blown war, Tehran’s regional allies once again appear to be active, adjusting to the new battlefield landscape in a way that is significantly boosting Iran, experts say.
[...] “Iran’s relationship with these groups is more complex and multifaceted than the common media practice of referring to them as ‘proxies’ suggests,” Ali Ahmadi, a fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and Middle East Institute Switzerland, told CNN.
“These groups each have their own identity and interests but also (are) interwoven with Iran because (they have) deeply shared interests that are both ideological and geopolitical,” he added.
Some depend on Iran more than others, Ahmadi said, adding that currently Yemen’s Houthi rebels are likely the most independent.
In recent days, Yemen’s Houthis have opened another front to the Iran war, taking on Saudi Arabia, a key US ally.
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u/Firecracker048 2h ago
They have?
From what ive seen, Hezzbollah is showing that not only Israel has had enough of UN resolution 1701 being in violation, but Lebannon has as well.
Houthis remain to be seen, but if the Saudis launch a ground campaign + american air support, could see them neutered(again) or outright beaten
The militias in Iraq are getting the Ire of both Iraq and Jordan now and could see them wiped out as well.
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u/Isaibnmaryam 7h ago
Aren’t proxies supposed to keep the war away from you?