The Economist: Iran’s proxy groups in the Middle East are moving away from Tehran

🔸The Economist magazine, in a report, has announced changes in the nature of Iran’s Islamic Republic proxy groups known as the “Axis of Resistance.”

🔸In this analytical report, the current and prior approach of the most important groups supported by Iran in the Middle East region—including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Yemen’s Houthis, Shiite militias in Iraq, and the Palestinian group Hamas—is examined and compared.

🔸As The Economist writes, the weakened approach of Hezbollah under the leadership of Naim Qassem cannot be compared with the period of leadership of Hassan Nasrallah. Accordingly, while this Lebanese Shiite group, until about three years ago, was considered a serious threat to Israel, relying ideologically on the Islamic Republic and possessing around 100,000 missiles and rockets, after Hassan Nasrallah and many of his well-known commanders were killed, it came under the leadership of Naim Qassem—someone, according to The Economist, who is in no way comparable in terms of influence and popularity to the former leader.

🔸The magazine also, by pointing to the loss of a large part of this group’s ammunition and weaponry, and the pressure of the Lebanese government for disarming Hezbollah, concludes that the role of this group toward Iran has changed completely and that Tehran’s efforts to preserve it are not, in a strategic sense, but rather more on the level of prestige.

🔸Regarding the Houthis, The Economist has also noted that, unlike Hezbollah in Lebanon, from the very beginning this group adopted a “independent” approach and has always insisted on it. The magazine, of course, recalled that in recent months, and during the war between Israel and the United States with Iran, the Houthis carried out attacks on Israel and Saudi Arabia, but this should not be interpreted as “complete and strategic subordination” to Tehran.

🔸As for the Shiite groups in Iraq as well, The Economist writes that differences of opinion of some religious leaders of these groups with Tehran have increased, and that at present the main focus of these militia groups is more on the central government in Baghdad than on Tehran, and the process of integrating some of these groups into Iraq’s official army has already begun.

🔸The Economist, while referring to Hamas’s Sunni identity, described the group’s presence in the “Axis of Resistance” from the outset as “strange and different,” and also noted, among other things, that during the ongoing war in Iran, Hamas had asked Tehran to avoid attacks on the Arab countries of the region.

🔸The magazine ultimately concludes that, given the limitations of Tehran’s capabilities and financial resources, rebuilding the “Axis of Resistance” in the way it wants will not be an easy task.

The Economist argues that, from one perspective, the current situation can be compared with the final years of the Soviet Union; a period in which the decline in Moscow’s financial and comprehensive support for its satellite countries led to their gradual but continuous distancing.