Iran and Hamas' influence outside the Middle East

As the Israeli ground offensive against Hamas advances in the Gaza Strip, the Islamic Republic of Iran mobilises its Middle Eastern proxy groups in the so-called 'Axis of Resistance'. In addition to Hamas - which after a month of war continues to launch missiles at Israel - Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and militias in Syria are also attacking Israeli territory.

While the Lebanese Shiite group is targeting northern Israel, one of the hottest areas of the country from which thousands of civilians have had to evacuate, the Houthis are attacking with drones or missiles targeting the Red Sea coastal city of Eilat.

Hizbollah attacks have killed three Israeli civilians and six soldiers and have made communities in northern Israel uninhabitable for the time being. Houthi attacks on Eilat, by contrast, have failed to achieve their objective and have been intercepted. However, the Israeli city - which is home to a large number of citizens from the south who have been forced to leave their homes - did come under direct attack from Syria.  

Bashar al-Assad's country, an ally of Iran, harbours Tehran-backed militias that have fired several rockets at Israeli territory during the war that have landed on uninhabited land. However, the recent drone strike on Eilat hit a school.

In addition to mobilising its proxy groups in the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran is also spreading its tentacles around the world in order to gain influence and establish an anti-Israeli bloc.

In this regard, as Banafsheh Keynush of the Middle East Institute points out, if the war between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate in the future, potentially turning into a wider regional conflict, "the impact could spread to all continents, given Iran and Hamas' decades-long joint effort to contain Israeli power whenever and wherever possible". 

These efforts range from Africa to Latin America, where countries such as Colombia and Chile have already withdrawn their ambassadors from Israel over the ongoing war. Bolivia has suspended relations with Jerusalem.

The South American countries that have taken these steps have several things in common. All are governed by left-wing executives and have good relations with Iran, especially Bolivia. Tehran has backed former president Evo Morales and then the socialist party of President Luis Arce.

"Tehran links the South American country's struggle against class and ethnic oppression of its indigenous communities with its own revolutionary teachings to promote an anti-imperialist and pro-Palestinian vision," explains Keynush. 

On the other hand, both Colombia and Chile have large Arab communities, while Hezbollah's activity has increased over the last decade. Although former Colombian president Iván Duque expelled members of the Lebanese group and labelled it a terrorist organisation, the shift to the left under Gustavo Petro has changed Bogotá's stance.

Petro has also been highly critical of the Israeli operation in Gaza, as have other presidents such as Brazil's Lula da Silva, who, by contrast, have not attacked Russia so fervently during its invasion of Ukraine.

"In Latin America, Iran has supported the 'Pink Tide' - a political shift towards leftist governments across the region - to contain US and Israeli influence and has sought to work with leftist leaders and the sizeable Arab diaspora," notes Keynush. Keynush also recalls that, over the years, companies and entities linked to Hezbollah have been repeatedly identified in South America. 

In this regard, the tri-border area between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina is particularly noteworthy, where Hezbollah and Hamas sympathisers have developed their operations and have also been linked to organised crime.

Because of this situation, the 35 members of the Organisation of American States designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation in 2021, but Tehran has continued to build networks through local Arab communities in the region.

Other areas where the Islamic Republic of Iran and its groups are working to increase their influence is North Africa. In this region, especially in Algeria and Tunisia, strong anti-Israeli sentiment and advocacy for the Palestinian cause has been exploited. Algiers, for example, has been accused of sending Iranian drones to the Polisario Front, a group that also maintains relations with Hezbollah.  

During the current war, the region has not only seen anti-Israeli protests, but also anti-Semitic acts, such as the burning of a synagogue in Tunis.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the African continent, such as South Africa, "Iran's support for anti-colonial and anti-apartheid movements may have encouraged Pretoria to collaborate with Hamas in the years that followed", says Keynush.

All this shows that the war is not limited to the Middle East and that Iran is willing to fight Israel wherever it can. As a result, many media outlets linked to the Iranian regime are already echoing Tehran's tactics internationally, claiming that Axis of Resistance is "changing the geopolitical map of the world".