Iran Is Recruiting Militant Allies to Launch Attacks Against Israel

Iran Is Recruiting Militant Allies to Launch Attacks Against Israel

April 14, 2023 3:15 pm ET

The long shadow war between Iran and Israel is moving into an unpredictable new phase after one of the Islamic Republic’s most powerful military commanders began rallying allies across the Middle East to launch a fresh wave of attacks on Israeli targets.

People familiar with the discussions said Esmail Qaani, who leads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, has held a series of clandestine meetings with militant leaders across the region in recent weeks, including some operating in Syria and Iraq.

The Quds Force chief was in Lebanon last week, where he met with the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad at the Iranian embassy in Beirut, the people said. Around the same time, militants in southern Lebanon fired a barrage of rockets at Israel, the largest such attack since the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

The details of the rocket attack were finalized in Gen. Qaani’s meetings in Beirut, including with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his deputy Saleh al-Arouri and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, the people said.

Rockets were also fired at Israel from Gaza and Syria, and Israel responded by launching airstrikes against what it said were militant targets in those areas. Israel now fears fresh onslaughts on multiple fronts, and the country’s military said it has reinforced its Iron Dome air-defense over the past week over the growing tension.

Israel has cause for concern. Gen. Qaani’s effort to unite Tehran’s allies is a sharp escalation in the undeclared war between Iran and Israel after Israel carried out hundreds of attacks targeting Iran and its proxies across the Middle East.

It also reflects the growing influence of Gen. Qaani, who succeeded Qassem Soleimani, the charismatic Quds Force leader who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad in 2020. Gen. Qaani has generally played a quieter, less visible role than his predecessor. But his recent work marshaling Hezbollah, Hamas and others marks a growing threat to Israel—and a challenge for the U.S. at a time when other powers such as China and Russia are attempting to play larger roles in the Middle East.

Among Tehran’s chief objectives is to prevent its neighbors from establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. Over the past two years, Iran has publicly warned them against participating in U.S.-backed efforts to create a regional alliance to isolate Tehran. Saudi Arabia’s surprise agreement to renew diplomatic ties with Iran was a significant blow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main foreign policy goal of normalizing relations with Riyadh—and a reminder that the Islamic Republic remains a potent force in the region, as the U.S. has frequently warned.