Axis of Resistance in the context of "Ba'athist regime in Syria"

In 2024, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict escalated to a series of direct confrontations between the two countries in April, July, and October that year. On 1 April, Israel bombed an Iranian consulate complex in Damascus, Syria, killing multiple senior Iranian officials. In response, Iran and its Axis of Resistance allies seized the Israeli-linked ship MSC Aries and launched strikes inside Israel on 13 April. Israel then carried out retaliatory strikes in Iran and Syria on 19 April.

On 31 July, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated, in Tehran, Iran. The killing of Haniyeh occurred a few hours after the 2024 Haret Hreik airstrike in Lebanon that assassinated Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a key patron of the Lebanese Shia Islamist militia and political party Hezbollah.

Iranian support, including financial aid, deployment of Revolutionary Guards, and training, has played an important role in Hezbollah's formation and development. Hezbollah has functioned as Iran's proxy since its inception, and is considered to be part of the "Axis of Resistance".

The Middle Eastern crisis, also known as the October 7 War, is an ongoing regional conflict comprising a series of interrelated wars, conflicts, and heightened instability in the Middle East during the Gaza war and genocide. The Gaza war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals—including 815 civilians—and taking 251 hostages. Israel then launched an offensive with bombardment and a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. Israel's intensified blockade, bombardment, and invasion of the Gaza Strip has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, with some estimates suggesting more than 90,000 killed. On 10 October 2025, a ceasefire went into effect.

Shortly after the Gaza war began, several Iran-backed militias in the Axis of Resistance joined the conflict against Israel. In Lebanon, Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, igniting a fourteen-month conflict that escalated in October 2024 to an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon and largely ended with a ceasefire at the end of November. In the Red Sea, the Yemen-based Houthis attacked shipping vessels in solidarity with Hamas, drawing international rebuke—including a series of airstrikes against Houthi positions carried out by the United States and the United Kingdom—which ended with the U.S.–Houthi ceasefire in May 2025. Iraqi militias led by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq also carried out attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, but mostly halted in December 2024.