Shi’ite Muslim armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq are stepping up their role in the war with the US and Israel, showing the Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” can still wage attacks despite damage inflicted on the alliance during the Gaza conflict.

Groups that have long been armed and financed by Iran and loyal to its Shi’ite Islamist rulers are now helping Tehran intensify the war around the region, strikes in recent days show.

Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday launched their first-ever simultaneous rocket barrage on Israel, with the Lebanese terrorist group firing 200 missiles. Israel reported that only two of these hit its territory.

Iraqi Shi’ite militants have also picked up the pace of drone and missile attacks on US interests in Iraq in the last 3-4 days, according to three Iraqi security sources and two sources close to the groups.

One group yet to enter the fray are Tehran’s Houthi allies in Yemen, heavily armed and capable of disrupting maritime navigation around the Arabian peninsula, as shown during the Gaza war when they fired at Red Sea shipping and Israel. Houthi attacks could further disrupt oil markets because Saudi Arabia diverted exports to the Red Sea after Iran shut the Hormuz straits.

Last week, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said the group had its “fingers on the trigger” and was ready to act militarily when developments warrant it.

The alliance that Tehran calls the Axis of Resistance suffered major blows after Hamas – one of its key members – attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, igniting a war that decimated the Palestinian terrorist group and pummeled Hezbollah, with Israel killing the Lebanese group‘s leader Hassan Nasrallah. The ripple effects helped topple Bashar al-Assad in Syria, knocking away a pillar of the Axis.

“Iran built the Axis for a moment like this,” said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center think-tank, describing it as an “existential war” for Iran and Hezbollah, which joined the fight even though its military power remains well below levels seen in 2023.

“If the Iranian regime is destroyed, there would be nothing left” of the Axis, he said.

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said the Hezbollah attack on Wednesday comprised 200 rockets and 20 drones.

“There’s no contradiction between the fact that we heavily, heavily diminished Hezbollah in the last three years, and the fact that they are still a relevant, dangerous force,” he told reporters on Thursday.

A US State Department spokesperson said Washington “unequivocally condemns Iran and Iran-backed terrorist militias’ attacks on diplomatic, military, and civilian infrastructure, in Iraq, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region,” and it fully supports “Israel’s right to defend itself against” Hezbollah.

HEZBOLLAH EXECUTES IRANIAN PLAN

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei thanked “the fighters of the Resistance Front,” according to a statement issued on Thursday and read out by a state TV announcer.

“We consider the countries of the Resistance Front as our best friends,” he said in the statement, the first issued in his name since he was named as leader on Sunday.

Hezbollah, founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, entered the Iran war on March 2, saying it aimed to avenge the killing of Mojtaba’s father, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed on the first day of the war.

Israel has retaliated with a new offensive against the group in Lebanon, just 15 months after the last one, killing more than 600 people, forcing more than 800,000 from their homes.

Hezbollah’s rocket barrage on Wednesday night – its heaviest during this war – was launched at the same time as Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel, according to the Israeli military and two Lebanese sources familiar with Hezbollah operations.

The Lebanese sources said the coordinated strikes were part of Iran’s plan in the event of a major war, aiming to confuse Israeli air defense systems.

Despite the volleys of rockets, Hezbollah’s attacks have caused relatively little damage so far. Two Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon.

No fatalities have been reported in Israel as a result of Hezbollah rocket attacks.

LOYALIST CORE MOBILIZES IN IRAQ

Hezbollah played a major part in Iran’s regional strategy under the leadership of Nasrallah, the secretary general killed in 2024, backing Shi’ite factions in Iraq, Hamas, and the Houthis.

In Iraq, not all the Iran‑backed armed groups appear to support attacks on US interests. Reuters reported last week that many of the fighters and militia groups the Iranians cultivated in Iraq had not entered the fight.

But analysts and officials say a core group of Tehran‑aligned factions remains active and capable of exerting pressure.

Operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, these groups said on Thursday they’d carried out 31 attacks over the past 24 hours using dozens of drones and rockets against what they described as “occupation bases” in Iraq and the region.

Security officials say the militias have also sought to extend pressure to energy projects and oilfields in southern Iraq, where several US companies and US‑linked service firms operate alongside international partners.

Among the claimed attacks, two security sources said two drones hit the southern Majnoon oilfield on Wednesday, where US-based KBR is the operator. No casualties were reported. The attack was corroborated by a field engineer who said there had been five such strikes in less than a week.

On Tuesday a US diplomatic facility near Baghdad International Airport was struck by a drone, according to the US State Department, which said there were no injuries and everyone ​was accounted for.

Four security sources told Reuters the same site has come under repeated attack and was also hit on Wednesday.

Separately, two drones targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan on Wednesday, three Kurdish security sources said.

In northern Iraq, a drone attack struck an oilfield operated by US firm HKN Energy in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on March 5, causing a fire and halting production, two security sources and an oilfield engineer said. The sources said the drones belonged to Iran-backed militias and came from an area they controlled.

Reuters could not independently verify who was behind the attacks.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq also claimed responsibility for downing the US military refueling aircraft on Thursday. The US Central Command said the aircraft crashed in an incident that involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

Andreas Krieg, a lecturer at King’s College London’s security studies department, said that while the Axis of Resistance had been degraded since 2023, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shi’ite militias, and the Houthis were “very much operational.”

“They still retain capabilities, they still show very strong intent, and they remain well resourced,” he said.

All six crew members aboard a US military KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq are confirmed to have been killed, the US military said on Friday.

The refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident the military said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

The deaths add to the seven US service members who have already been killed as part of US operations against Iran which began on Feb. 28.

“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,” a statement from US Central Command said.

Speaking with reporters at the Pentagon on Friday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said operations against Iran would continue.

“War is hell. War is chaos, and as we saw yesterday with the tragic crash of our KC-135 tanker, bad things can happen,” Hegseth said.

A US official told Reuters that the second aircraft involved in the crash, which landed safely, was also a military refueling aircraft known as the KC-135.

The United States has deployed a large number of aircraft into the Middle East to take part in operations against Iran. The incident highlights the risk of not just operations but also of refueling aircraft in the air.

The KC-135, built by Boeing in the 1950s and early 1960s, has served as the backbone of the US military’s air refueling fleet and is critical to allowing aircraft to carry out missions ​without having to land.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, claimed ​responsibility for downing the US military refueling aircraft.

Reuters reported on ​Tuesday that ⁠as many as 150 US troops have been wounded in the US-Israeli war on Iran. The crash happened the same day two US sailors were injured after ⁠the ​USS Gerald Ford suffered a non-combat-related fire on ​board.

The first seven US troops were killed when a drone slammed into a US military facility in Port ​Shuaiba, Kuwait and in another attack in Saudi Arabia.

President Donald Trump and other senior officials have warned the Iran conflict will result in more US military deaths as Tehran retaliates against US and Israeli strikes.

NATO air defenses in the eastern Mediterranean have shot down a third ballistic missile that was fired from Iran toward Turkey, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Friday, adding that it was asking Tehran for clarification.

NATO air defenses shot down the first Iranian ballistic missile fired at Turkey on March 4 and a second one on March 9. The ministry has said the first incoming missile was downed en route to Turkish airspace, while the second had entered it.

Turkey has not disclosed the target of the third missile, saying only it was “entering” Turkish airspace, but an explosion was heard and windows were shaken overnight near the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey‘s Adana province, according to a Reuters witness and social media footage verified by Reuters.

US air forces, along with personnel from Turkey and other countries, are stationed at Incirlik. Ankara says Washington has not used the Turkish base in its air assault, alongside Israel, on Iran.

NATO spokesperson Allison Hart confirmed the alliance’s air defenses had intercepted a missile from Iran, adding: “NATO remains vigilant and stands firm in its defense of all allies.”

TURKEY SAYS IT DOES NOT WANT TO BE DRAGGED INTO WAR

Turkey, NATO’s second-largest army and Iran‘s neighbor, has warned Tehran against any more attacks. It has protested to Tehran after every incident, while saying it does not want to be dragged into the war between Iran, Israel, and the US.

“All necessary measures are being taken decisively and without hesitation against any threat directed at our country’s territory and airspace. Consultations are being conducted with the relevant country to clarify all aspects of the incident,” the ministry said in a statement.

A Turkish security source said there had been no casualties in the latest incident and there were no reports of any debris falling from the interception.

The Iranian embassy in Ankara later repeated that it was not targeting Turkey, pointing to Tehran’s proposal to form a joint team to investigate the incidents after a phone call between the two countries’ presidents.

“It is hereby emphasized that no projectiles have been launched from Iran toward Turkey,” the embassy said on X, adding that Tehran respected Turkey‘s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Local media later cited separate Turkish security sources as saying that while Turkey was acting cautiously to avoid escalating the situation, its stance “does not mean endless tolerance.”

The Hurriyet newspaper and other media cited the sources as saying Ankara had conveyed “a clear message” to Tehran to demand that it “immediately identify those responsible for the attacks and take the necessary precautions.”

They said Turkey would not refrain from responding to the attacks or imposing punitive measures as it sees fit “when the time comes.”

TURKEY RELIES ON NATO AIR DEFENSES

Turkey, an emerging leader in the global defense industry, lacks its own fully-fledged air defenses despite development efforts, and has relied on NATO air defenses stationed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea against the Iranian missiles.

The Kurecik NATO radar base, to the northeast of Incirlik in the southeastern province of Malatya, provides vital protection for the alliance, including the detection of missiles fired towards Turkey.

Fragments of the previous missile fired from Iran had fallen in a region between the two bases.

Turkey‘s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that the Russian S-400 air defense systems it acquired in 2019 were not used, as NATO’s integrated defenses were quicker and more effective.

Following the incidents, NATO has beefed up its ballistic missile defenses in the region and deployed a US Patriot air defense system to boost defenses at the Kurecik base.