Crumbling axis Dismantling of Iran's proxies paved way for Israel's attack

Israel's new offensive is the latest link in a chain of events triggered by the attack launched by Hamas from Gaza into Israel on 7 October 2023.

- Jason Burke

All have successively weakened Tehran and, militarily at least, empowered Israel. Without each, it is difficult to see how the new offensive it launched directly against Iran would be possible.

The first was the Israeli offensive in Gaza. This has now killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, but within weeks had militarily degraded Hamas sufficiently for the Islamist militant organisation to no longer pose a significant current threat to Israeli citizens.

As Hamas was part of the socalled axis of resistance, a coalition of similar organisations across the Middle East assembled by Tehran to project power across the region and to deter Israel from striking at Iran's nuclear programme, this had major regional implications.

Then, in April last year, Israel bombed the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus, Syria, killing seven people. In response, Iran attacked Israel directly for the first time, launching an ineffective barrage of drones. The conflict between Iran and Israel, long fought through proxies, assassinations and strikes away from Israeli soil, had now spilled into the open.