New York Times: Who are the factions allied with Iran in the Middle East and What are their capabilities?

Iran seeks to project its military power across a large area in the Middle East, by supporting more than 20 groups and movements with weapons, training, and financial aid, according to New York Times.

With few exceptions, Iran doesn’t fully control all of these groups, according to the New York Times.

The New York Times published the report under the title: “Proxy influence… How does Iran shape the Middle East?”

It addresses how Iran succeeded in spreading its influence and highlighting its military power in large areas of the Middle East, despite Western sanctions and the difference in language and sectarian affiliation with its surroundings, where the majority speak Arabic and belong to the Sunni sect.

According to the New York Times, Iran has succeeded in competing with traditional regional powers in the region, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as it supports, directly or indirectly, more than 20 armed groups in the region, most of which are classified as terrorist groups in the United States.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is the arm of the Tehran regime in managing armed groups in the region that are organically linked to Iran, or that have common interests similar to Hamas, including showing hostility to Israel and raising the slogan of destroying the “Jewish state”.

Since its creation in 1987, Hamas has launched numerous attacks on Israel, often working with another Iranian-backed militant group, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In 2021, the two groups fired 4,000 missiles at Israel over the course of 11 days.

The New York Times notes that Hamas and Islamic Jihad together receive more than $100 million annually from Tehran, in addition to weapons and training, according to a 2020 US State Department report.

In a report published by Reuters in October 2023, it said that the head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, said in an interview with Al Jazeera in 2022 that Hamas receives about $70 million annually.

Iran not only provided Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement with weapons and training, but also trained Hamas on how to make and assemble its own weapons from local materials.

Iran’s contact with Hamas began in Lebanon in the early 1990s, after Israel forced hundreds of Palestinians, including Hamas leaders, to take refuge there.

In Lebanon, Hamas followers were quick to establish ties with members of Hezbollah, which has well-established links to Iran.

Through Hezbollah, Hamas became linked to Iran, but sometimes, that relationship sours.

During the Arab Spring in 2011, Hamas supported opposition factions opposed to the Syrian president, while Iran supported President Bashar Assad.

In 2015, Hamas supported Saudi Arabia against the Yemeni Houthi group, which is supported by Iran.

But then a rapprochement occurred between the Hamas leadership and Assad, and between Hamas and the Houthis.

Hamas possesses relatively unsophisticated weapons, but the quantity makes up for what the movement’s arsenal lacks in terms of quality.

Before the October 7 war, Hamas had thousands of short- and medium-range missiles that could reach a distance of at least 125 miles.

From Gaza, some of them can reach the cities of Eilat and Haifa, as well as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Hamas possesses a large number of Russian-made portable anti-tank missiles, which the movement used against Israeli forces in Gaza, according to weapons experts.

It has drones that it used to attack Israeli tanks and communication points.

Inside Gaza, Hamas has the ability to manufacture and assemble some weapons, using parts from Iran, as well as from China and Russia.

“It’s not clear whether these countries supplied it or whether it was obtained through Iran and Hezbollah,” the New York Times says.

The New York Times report placed Hezbollah as “Iran’s largest, oldest, and best-trained ally in the Middle East”.

During the war in Gaza, Hezbollah began increasing pressure on Israel, launching cross-border strikes. In return, Israel launched a counterattack.

Hezbollah and Israel faced off on more than one occasion over many years until the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

But after 6 years of withdrawal, specifically in July 2006, the two sides fought a war that was considered the fiercest.

According to New York Times, Hezbollah receives significant financial support from Iran, “although it’s difficult to confirm the exact amount”.

In 2018, a US official estimated the amount at about $700 million, but didn’t provide any evidence of this number.

However, Iranian critical support for Hezbollah has diminished over time, reflecting the impact of long-term sanctions coupled with recent sanctions ordered by former US President Donald Trump and maintained by current President Joe Biden.

The report indicates that Iran has been able to maintain its support for Hezbollah in several other ways.

It continues to provide weapons and advanced technological know-how so that Hezbollah engineers can manufacture weapons locally.

He adds, “The ability to produce its own weapons has made Hezbollah one of the best equipped groups in the Middle East”.

Experts in Iranian military strategy say that “Tehran considers Hezbollah forces in Lebanon as its first line of defense, in the event that it receives an attack from Israel,” noting that Iran’s relations with Hezbollah go back to the civil war in Lebanon, in 1975.

According to New York Times, estimates by the US Army and weapons experts indicate that “Hezbollah’s arsenal amounts to about 135,000 to 150,000 missiles and missiles, or more with a range of up to 200 miles or so, allowing it to reach targets deep inside Israel.

Analysts indicate that Hezbollah possesses between 100 and 400 missiles that were recently modernized and equipped with precise guidance systems.

“This technology is mostly Iranian and Russian, although it’s sometimes modified by Hezbollah weapons experts,” they say.

The New York Times quoted military analysts as saying, “Hezbollah’s combat force is more disciplined, better trained, and better organized than most Middle Eastern armies; It consists of about 30,000 armed men and 20,000 reserves”.

According to analysts, “Hezbollah has the ability to quickly recruit and train thousands of new militants, through its role as a political force and social service provider in many Lebanese communities”.

The New York Times report touched on the Ansar Allah group in Yemen, and said that the Houthis, who recently joined Iran’s network of allies, are active in attacking ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as an international shipping route.

The Houthis became the de facto rulers of Yemen after taking control of the capital in 2014.

They now control about a third of the country, where 70 to 80% of the population lives, according to New York Times.

Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the Houthis have launched more than 60 missile and drone attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The attacks affected trade around the world, and shipping through the Red Sea and Suez Canal fell by at least 50%, according to the International Monetary Fund, while some industry analysts say the decline is closer to 80%.

The New York Times indicates that Houthi missiles targeted the port of Eilat.

Before the war in Gaza, it also attacked targets in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

According to New York Times, the Houthi group mostly receives weapons and training from Iran rather than direct financial support.

In December 2023, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on individuals and exchange companies in Iran, Türkiye, and Yemen involved in transferring millions of dollars from Iran to the Houthis.

During the civil war in Yemen, Iran and Hezbollah helped the Houthis fight against the Yemeni government and its Saudi backers.

According to New York Times, estimates vary greatly about the manpower of the Houthi forces and the size of their military arsenal.

Experts say that the Houthis have about 20,000 trained fighters, but in interviews, Houthi leaders confirmed that they have up to 200,000 fighters, and in 2015 the United Nations estimated the number at about 75,000.

Recent attacks have shown that the Houthis have some units highly trained in operating drones, in addition to anti-ship ballistic missiles and missiles assigned to fixed targets on the ground.

US or British warships intercepted anti-ship missiles and drones.

But the Houthis hit their targets often enough to increase risks and insurance costs, prompting many major shipping companies to avoid the Red Sea route.

According to the New York Times, a recent report issued by the US Defense Intelligence Agency and a United Nations report indicated that many of the Houthis’ weapons are either Iranian or various forms of Iranian models.

The Houthis have previously used ballistic missiles and cruise missiles to strike targets in the south of the occupied territories, more than 1,000 miles away.

More recently, the Houthis have deployed maritime drones, some of which are surfing and others subsurface.

Underwater weapons are considered relatively advanced weapons, according to Western intelligence analysts and the US Naval Institute.

According to the New York Times report, Iran has gained great influence in Iraq, politically and commercially, as Iraq has become, for nearly 20 years, fertile ground for armed groups allied with Iran whose influence has increased.

Most of the groups fall under the “Popular Mobilization Forces,” which rose to prominence during the war against ISIS.

The New York Times says that 4 groups, in particular, participated in a number of attacks on US forces, which are “Harakat al Nujaba, Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada, Asaib Ahl al Haq, and Kataib Hezbollah”.

With the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October, two of those groups intensified their attacks on American sites in Iraq, and the “Hezbollah Brigades” and “Harakat al Nujaba” launched 166 attacks on US military facilities in Iraq and Syria, according to the New York Times.

The attacks injured about 70 soldiers, with relatively minor injuries, but on January 28, a drone strike on a supply base on the Jordanian-Syrian border killed three US soldiers and wounded more than 34 others.

According to the New York Times, the links of some of these Iraqi groups with Iran go back nearly two decades.

Over the years, Tehran has provided them with money, weapons, and training.

The New York Times added that Iran still provides training and weapons parts, in addition to technical and strategic support, but armed groups are now part of the Iraqi government’s security apparatus under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces, which includes more than 35 armed groups.

The Iraqi government covers the salaries of most ordinary employees, and it’s unclear whether Iran will increase the salaries of commanders and group leadership.

It’s believed that Iran does not dictate the groups’ goals or the timing of their attacks, but it has some influence in convincing them to stop shooting.

This is what happened after the fatal strike on the US supply base last January.

Iran has reportedly put intense pressure on groups in Iraq to stop its strikes on US camps and facilities.

The groups reluctantly agreed, although some continued to carry out occasional attacks in Syria and Israel, according to the newspaper.

The New York Times says that the Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq, whose number of fighters is estimated by analysts to range between 10,000 and 30,000, uses drones and missiles with a range of about 1,100 km, according to the US Central Command.

It indicates that, with Iran’s help, the organization has gained the ability to modify missiles to make them more accurate.

It has a variety of drones, some of which can reach a distance of up to 750 km.

“Harakat al Nujaba” and “Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada” have smaller forces, as analysts estimate that the numbers of their forces are closer to 1,000 to 5,000, but they use similar weapons, and they operate mainly in Syria and have attacked Israel.

Iran hasn’t provided any more resources to a regional government than Syria, as Tehran has spread its resources widely and supported armed elements outside and inside the Syrian government.

In contrast to Lebanon, Iran has focused its efforts on a non-state armed entity, and support in Syria has gone to both state and non-state armed actors.

There are two proxy groups consisting of fighters recruited in Iran, and they are entirely controlled by the Quds Force, an external military and intelligence service affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard.

Iran has helped support Damascus in many ways, including through billions of dollars in loans to the government, discounted oil supplies and payments to help support Syrian military forces.

The Revolutionary Guard deploys at least two groups in Syria: the “Fatemiyoun Brigade,” made up of Afghans, and the “Zainabiyoun Brigade,” made up of Pakistanis.

Other armed units are reported to receive modest salaries, according to the New York Times.

Iranian activity in Syria dates back to after the Iranian Revolution, in 1979, when Syria supported the new government in Tehran, while others avoided it.

Iran considers Syria a strategic partner that allows it to reach Hezbollah in Lebanon by land.

According to the New York Times, Syria is the place where Iranian-backed forces modify, manufacture and store weapons that Iran then distributes to armed groups in Syria and throughout the region, most notably Hezbollah.

At Iran’s request, the Syrian government reequipped some of its weapons facilities, turning them into production centers to modernize medium-range missiles and missiles using precision guidance systems, the New York Times reported, citing Israeli defense and intelligence reports.