[News] Debunking the West's proxy model; Amal Saad on the Resistance axis

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Tue Jan 23 15:43:09 EST 2024 

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/debunking-the-west-s-proxy-model--amal-saad-on-the-resistanc>
Debunking the West's proxy model; Amal Saad on the Resistance axis
Al Mayadeen English
January 23, 2024
------------------------------

Saad reaffirms her argument of the symbiotic relation between the member
parties of the Axis of Resistance: which she had unpacked in an academic
article she published back in 2019 titled "Challenging the sponsor-proxy
model: the Iran–Hizbullah relationship".
[image: d41d0798-2026-4e01-b058-6d77e01050f1.jpg]

   - Yemenis rally in support of the Lebanese resistance holding a poster
   of Hezbollah Secretary General, March 3, 2016 (AP)

In a recent piece written for *The Guardian
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/23/houthis-hamas-israel-iran-axis-resistance>*
 explaining that Ansar Allah can't "be bombed into extinction" because of
being part of a regional tenacious coalition, Amal Saad attends to the
general structure of the axis of resistance.

In the article, Saad reaffirms her argument of the symbiotic
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/any-attack-on-yemen-is-an-attack-on-us--iraqi-hezbollah-to-a>relation
between the member parties of the Axis of Resistance: which she had
unpacked in an academic article she published back in 2019 titled "Challenging
the sponsor-proxy model: the Iran–Hizbullah relationship
<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/gd/9/4/article-p627.xml>
".

Vulgar and exaggerated versions of the proxy narrative
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/kanaani--iran-does-not-have-proxies-in-region>
have often been used in smear campaigns aiming at discrediting resistance
movements, but this article points out how this model (of the resistance
axis being a network of Iranian proxies) persists as a misconception in
Western policy-making which has recurrently been proven false in the Iran
nuclear deal negotiations, the ceasefire in Yemen, the war on Syria, the
operations against the American occupation in Iraq, etc.

*Read more: Eyes on the South: Low intensity conflict & escalation-risk in
Lebanon
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/eyes-on-the-south--low-intensity-conflict---escalation-risk>*
Reductive Western Policy

Saad explains that the US, UK
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us--uk-attacks-on-ansar-allah-were-expected-to-have-minimal>,
and "Israel" are reductive in their approach to dealing with resistance.
They expect that they can threaten them or bomb them into submission
because they consider proxies acting according to Iranian diktats, but in
fact, these resistance movements, Saad argues, have motives and interests
of their own at stake in these battles. Saad reaffirms that Ansar Allah
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/yemen-s-ansar-allah--us-terror-designation-is--ironically-am>,
like other resistance movements party to the Axis, is self-interested and
driven by ideological motives in the burgeoning conflicts to which they're
party.

What Western policy fails to grasp is that all of the resistance Axis party
members are stakeholders and not just Iran. The Yemenis' blockade in the
Arabian and Red Seas
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/portugal-to-join-eu--mission--in-the-red-sea>
is driven by their ideological commitments to the Palestinian cause and
their belief in their intersecting internet between Yemeni national
interest and Palestinian national interest.

"This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the underlying dynamics within
the axis and of the unshakeable unity of its members, all of which could
make Western powers’ intervention in the region even more costly," she
writes.
Synergistic alliance of state and non-state parties

Saad goes on to explain that the resistance axis is essentially an
alliance, that includes state and non-state party members, that also
currently functions as a wartime coalition.

Before 2024, the first time the resistance axis mobilized concertedly into
a wartime coalition was in 2013 during the war in Syria.

The alliance effectively works as a multilateral mutual relation of
support. Saad explains:

   - Iran, specifically through the IRGC, has consistently supported the
   Lebanese and Palestinian resistance with military and financial assistance.
   - Syria has long been a persistent and secure supply route to the
   Lebanese resistance (delivering Iranian weapons and even supplying
   Hezbollah with weapons from Syrian stocks notably Kornet missiles).
   -  Syria has also been a safe refuge for Palestinian resistance
   factions: hosting senior Palestinian resistance leaders and training camps.
   - The Lebanese resistance has provided technical and military training
   to the Palestinian resistance, including bomb and tunnel-making expertise,
   and along with Iran, smuggled weapon-manufacturing technology to the West
   Bank and Gaza.
   - The Yemeni resistance received military and political assistance from
   Iran, and even according to some reports they had received military
   training from Hezbollah operatives in their war against the Saudi-led
   aggression coalition aggression.

Shared Ideological Pillars and Strategic Goals

Saad pinpoints two factors that serve as the basis for the symbiotic
relationship between the parties of the Resistance Axis which makes it a
cohesive and durable alliance: deep-seated ideological pillars (i.e.
motives) and shared strategic objectives (i.e. interests).

In regards to ideology, Saad explains that all resistance axis actors
"subscribe to anti-imperialists and an anti-Zionist agenda, with the
Palestinian cause as the focal point", and consequently conceive their
strategic objectives from this lens.

They understand that their national interest is conditioned upon the
imperialist fallback from the region, the defeat of "Israel", and the
liberation of Palestine.

"Today, it [the resistance axis] shares two common aims: to force Israel
into an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and to expel US troops from Iraq
and Syria," Saad adds

"In pursuing these aims, the non-state actors in this alliance are acting
in accordance with their own political beliefs and strategic interests
rather than following Iranian diktat."
A symbiotic alliance

The axis is heterogenous in capital: asymmetrical in favor of Iran, but the
fact that Iran has chosen to invest its capital and resources in supporting
resistance movements doesn't translate to the resistance movements being
less autonomous.

Heterogeneity in capital doesn't equate to disproportionality in
decision-making. In fact, the symbiotic relationship is based on the
capital heterogeneity of the axis and the military autonomy of the
respective resistance groups: which makes the alliance "organic and
symbiotic as opposed to being transactional and hierarchical".

"While Iran has offered material support to the non-state actors within the
axis, such assistance has not translated into the kind of exercise of power
that characterizes sponsor-proxy relationships."

Saad cites US intelligence official Brian Katz, who has argued that
resistance movements across the region “are no longer simply Iranian
proxies. Rather, they have become a collection of ideologically aligned,
militarily interdependent, mature political-military actors committed to
the mutual defense”.

Furthermore, Saad cites the instances when the Resistance Axis acted
concertedly as a wartime coalition as evidence of the the military autonomy
of the non-state groups.
Hezbollah in the Syrian War

Hezbollah was the first resistance Axis party to intervene in Syria
(besides the Syrian government) given the geographical proximity and
immediate threat which Takfiris posed to Hezbollah. Saad explains that it
was Hezbollah that persuaded the IRGC to deploy in Syria and then the Iraqi
PMF followed suit.
Hamas in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood

More recently, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood which Hamas launched on October 7th
was a surprise to the enemy as much as it was a surprise to the ally (even
according to Israeli and American accounts), and nevertheless, Hamas'
partners followed suit, and supported their decision, and the battle has
expanded to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and the Red Sea to build further pressure
on "Israel" and the US to give in to Hamas' conditions.
High-level coordination: counter-divide-and-conquer

Today, the multi-front battle of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is being executed
today by means of tactical military coordination, which is reportedly
occurring within several joint operations’ rooms in various capitals across
the region, Saad adds.

Saad specifies that Hezbollah is assuming the role of battle management:
directing, planning, and coordinating military operations across the
different conflict theatres.

All fronts (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and the Red Sea) are synchronized to
pause when the fighting in Gaza is suspended, as demonstrated by the
temporary truce in Gaza in late November, she notes.

"Nothing short of a ceasefire in Gaza can prevent the region from turning
into a powder keg."
Background: Scale, Beligrents and Fronts

Gaza became ground zero
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/eyes-on-the-south--low-intensity-conflict---escalation-risk>
for the war on October 7th, but the Al-Aqsa Flood has resonated throughout
the region since.

Beligrents in support of the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza have included
the Palestinian resistance factions in the West Bank, the Lebanese
Resistance, the Islamic Resistance factions in Iraq, the Yemeni Armed
Forces (in cooperation with the Yemeni resistance), and the Islamic
Revolution's Guard in Iran. Beligrents on the side of the Israelis have
included the US-led occupation coalition in Syria, the US-led occupation
coalition in Iraq, the US-led aggression coalition in the Red Sea, and the
Takfiri terrorist network in the region (Daesh, Jaish ul-Adl
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/who-is-jaish-ul-adl-whom-the-irgc-launched-a-strike-against>,
etc.).

Fronts from which operations are being launched directly against the
Israeli occupation, in addition to Gaza, include most notably South Lebanon
(which serves as the second battlefront of this war), the West Bank (where
lone-wolf stabbing/shooting/ramming operations and counter-raid concerted
action by underground resistance cells have increased in frequency), in
addition to Syria, Iraq, and Yemen (from where drones and missiles have
been launched against the occupied territories most notably al-Jalil
"Galilee Heights", Um al-Rashrash "Eilat", and even recently Haifa
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iraqi-resistance-strikes-haifa-with-advanced--al-arqab--crui>
).

Complimentary fronts, from where operations don't directly target "Israel"
but rather aim to build up pressure on "Israel" and its imperialist
proppers to consolidate a ceasefire in Gaza. These complimentary fronts
include the Red and Arabian Seas (where the Yemeni Armed Forces and
Resistance have enforced a naval blockade against Israeli and
"Israel"-bound ships), northeast Syria
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/3-us-bases-in-iraq--syria-under-iraqi-resistance-rockets--dr>
(where the US-led coalition occupation bases are being shelled by the
Islamic Resistance in Iraq), and Iraq (where, similarly, US-led coalition
occupation bases are being shelled by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq).
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