Axis Of Resistance:
The Hamas leader was assassinated in an airstrike in Tehran and experts believe that Iran could hike up attacks against Israel through its allies – Axis of resistance.
- Axis of resistance is a coalition of Iranian-backed groups.
- The coalition’s name is said to be inspired by former US President George W Bush’s use of the term ‘axis of evil’ — referring to Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
- The roots of the ‘axis of resistance’ go back to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which paved the way for radical Shia Muslim clerics to come to power.
- To expand its political and military influence in a region where most powers such as US-ally Saudi Arabia are Sunni-majority nations, Iran’s new regime began to support non-state actors.
- Another reason for this was to deter threats from Israel and the US — Iran has seen Israel’s creation in 1948 as a means for the US (and the West) to influence the region for its strategic interests.
- Group members
- Hezbollah: Shiite militant organization
- Hamas: Palestinian Sunni militant group in Gaza
- Palestinian Islamic Jihad(PIJ): Sunni Islamist militant group, Palestine
- Houthis: Zaydi Shia militant group, Yemen
