US hits more than 85 targets
FOX News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin gives an update on “Your World” on the retaliation for the drone attack on U.S. military personnel in Jordan.
Iran supports several terrorist organizations in the Middle East, including Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Each group receives support from Iran in different ways and poses an increasing threat to U.S. military personnel, U.S. allies, global commercial shipping, and the regions in which they operate.
What is Kataib Hezbollah?
Kataib Hezbollah is an Iraq-based, Iranian-backed terrorist organization believed to be involved in the recent attack in Jordan that killed three American soldiers.
US launches airstrikes in Middle East after soldier killed: ‘This is the beginning of our response’
Iranian missiles on display in a park in Tehran, Iran, on January 20, 2024. (Majid Saidi/Getty Images)
Originally formed in 2003, Kataib Hezbollah means “Brigade of the Party of God” and is responsible for the majority of the party’s more than 160 members. attack on US forces It has been operating in Iraq and Syria since mid-October.
The group is apparently headquartered in Baghdad and operates throughout Iraq. The group is believed to have around 3,000 members and is also active in Syria, in both Aleppo and Damascus, according to . Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
According to FDD, the organization was “an umbrella organization for several Shiite extremist organizations until it issued a statement announcing its merger in 2007.”
The group, which pledges allegiance to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this week it would cease military operations in the region.
Iran-backed proxy group threatens further attacks on US forces
“To avoid embarrassment for the Iraqi government, we announce the suspension of military and security operations against the occupying forces,” the group’s leader, Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, said in a statement late Tuesday.
Who are the Houthis?
The Iranian-funded Houthi proxy group has recently escalated attacks on ships in or near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and expressed support for Hamas, which is carrying out illegal activities. war with Israel. The group has also sought to join the war by launching drones and missiles at Israel, raising concerns that the fighting could escalate into a regional conflict.
In response to the attack by the Houthi rebels, some shipping and oil companies have suspended shipping along maritime routes where the Houthis have begun attacking commercial ships.
Houthi fighters hold a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and against U.S.-led airstrikes in Yemen, Monday, January 29, 2024, in Sanaa, Yemen. (AP Photo/Osama Abdulrahman)
The Houthis captured Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014, starting a bloody war that lasted several years. The conflict soon became a proxy war between the two sides. Saudi Arabia, Iran supported Yemen’s government-in-exile and supported rebel groups.
The war has caused a massive humanitarian crisis, with widespread hunger and misery in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country. The war reportedly killed more than 150,000 people, including combatants and civilians. The world’s worst humanitarian disaster It will kill tens of thousands more people.
Technically speaking, the ceasefire that ended a year ago has largely been respected. The Houthis control much of Yemen, and their history dates back to the late 1990s, when the Shiite Zaidi Islamic revival movement began. The sect ruled Yemen for centuries but was marginalized under the Sunni regime that took power after the 1962 civil war.
As friction with the government escalates, it has sparked a series of guerrilla wars with the military, as well as a brief border conflict with the Sunni power of Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters.
After a year of relative calm in Yemen, the Houthis launched numerous missiles and drones. On October 31, they attacked Israel, saying at the time that more were there to “support the victory of the Palestinian people.”
Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of training, arming and financing the Houthis, a claim that Tehran continues to deny.
What is Hezbollah?
Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that is backed by Iran and has significant influence in Lebanon. It operates with the broader goal of strengthening Iran’s objectives.
Since October 7, Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire in what is described as low-intensity fighting. Hezbollah has fired more than 1,000 rockets, missiles and drones into Israel and lost about 200 fighters, killed by the Israel Defense Forces in a targeted response against the terror group.
Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah train in the village of Ahramta in southern Lebanon in May 2023. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
Hezbollah was founded during the 15-year Lebanese civil war that began in 1975. Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) provided funding and training to Shiite groups that began fighting the Israeli military. The group became known as Hezbollah, meaning “Party of God.”
The party’s original purpose was to israel defense forces (IDF) From southern Lebanon. Although Israel withdrew its troops in 2000, Hezbollah justified its ongoing conflict on the basis of Israel’s presence in the Shebaa Farms within the Lebanese-Syrian-Israeli border area.
The 1985 manifesto sanctified Hezbollah’s mission to rid the Middle East of Western influence and destroy Israel. The manifesto named Iranian Islamic revolutionary Khomeini as its leader. Khomeini ruled Iran as supreme leader from 1979 until his death in 1989.
Hezbollah’s reach extends far beyond the Middle East. The group is responsible for attacks and plots in Bulgaria, Peru, Cyprus, Thailand, Argentina and elsewhere. Hezbollah has not been successful in terrorist attacks in the United States, but it is trying to develop its capabilities.
Hezbollah operates networks within and outside Lebanon and carries out a variety of criminal activities, including a series of attacks against U.S. interests. These attacks included the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines, the deadliest day for U.S. Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. It became.
This terrorist organization, led by Hassan Nasrallah, has terrorist attack To support its mission as articulated in its manifesto.
What is Hamas?
Like other organizations, Hamas is a terrorist organization made up of Iranian-backed terrorists.
The group has been designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the State Department. The United States, European Union and Israel say they have maintained an ironclad grip on Gaza since Israel violently occupied the strip in 2007, following a unilateral withdrawal in 2005.
Palestinian Hamas militants march in support of the group in Gaza City, December 10, 2022. (Mohamed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)
On December 14, 2022, Yahya Sinwar, leader of the terrorist organization Hamas, and others celebrated the 35th anniversary of the founding of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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Funded and trained by Iran, the terrorist organization imposes a strict Islamic code of law on its more than 2 million people, and has repeatedly launched rockets and incendiary bombs into Israeli territory and carried out large-scale attacks along the border. It continues to engage in hostilities with Israel, including large-scale protests. fence.
On the morning of October 7, 2023, the terrorist organization Hamas fired thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip, attacking and infiltrating areas in southern Israel. The invasion killed 1,200 people, and the ensuing war between Hamas and Israel killed thousands more, mostly Palestinians.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano, Breana Scheckwitz, Anders Hagstrom and Gabriele Regalbuto contributed to this report.
