Axis of Resistance
The Axis of Resistance (Persian: محور مقاومت Mehvar–e Moqâvemat; Arabic: محور المقاومة Miḥwar al-Muqāwamah) is an informal Iranian-led political and military coalition in West Asia and North Africa. It most notably includes the Syrian government, the Lebanese political party and militant group Hezbollah, the Yemeni political and military organization Ansar Allah (the Houthi movement), and a variety of Palestinian militant groups.
| Axis of Resistance | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaders |
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| Group(s) | Primary
List
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| Headquarters | Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen | ||||
| Ideology | Revolutionary Shia Islamism Anti-Zionism Anti-Westernism Opposition to American, Israeli and Gulf states' interests in the Middle East Opposition to the MEK | ||||
| Political position | Big tent | ||||
| Status | Active unofficial military alliance | ||||
| Allies | |||||
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| Opponents | |||||
Former opponents
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| Battles and wars | Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, Iran–Israel proxy conflict, Syrian Civil War, Israel–Hamas war, 2024 Iran–Israel conflict | ||||
Despite the alliance members' differing ideologies, they are all unified by their declared objectives of opposing the regional influence of the Western countries; Israel; the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf; and, specifically in the case of the Shia–Sunni divide, certain Sunni Islamists who are perceived as posing a threat to the Iranian ideology of Shia Islamism. The growing political and military influence of the Iranian government throughout the region has played a role in fuelling a number of wars throughout the Arab world, particularly in the context of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict and the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, and has thus been cited as one of the main factors driving Arab–Israeli normalization; the equally informal Arab–Israeli alliance emerged between Israel and a number of Arab countries around 2019 in order to address their concerns regarding security threats from Iran or Iranian proxies.
Ali Khamenei, who has served as the Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989, has repeatedly defined the Islamic Republic government as a "resistance government" (i.e., against Western and Israeli influence). Though the Axis of Resistance operates primarily in the Middle East, the Iranian government has attempted to export the alliance's ideology at a global level; Iran and Iran-aligned proxies have attacked Jewish, Israeli, and American organizations abroad. During a meeting with Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel in December 2023, Khamenei formally called on the people of Cuba to form a similar coalition against the "bullying" of the United States and other Western countries.