Southern Israel was on high alert, Friday, after attacks by armed groups in Yemen and Syria, reflecting, according to the New York Times, the growing regional threats that Israel faces from Iranian-backed militants throughout the Middle East.

On Thursday, the Israeli army said that an organization in Syria launched a drone that hit a school in the city of Eilat in the south.

The army did not mention the name of the organization that launched the drone towards Eilat, which overlooks the Red Sea and is about 400 kilometers away from the nearest point on Syrian territory.

'Multiple fronts'

The Yemeni Houthi group, allied with Iran, has also been launching missile and drone attacks on Israel since October 7, but they were either shot down or failed to hit their targets.

The Houthis, who control vast areas of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, announced on Thursday that they had fired ballistic missiles at various Israeli targets, including what the group’s military spokesman described as “military targets in Eilat.”

Israel said it used its "Arrow" defense system to intercept ballistic missiles about 96 kilometers off the coast of Eilat, but did not specify their source.

The Israeli army said this month that it deployed boats armed with missiles in the Red Sea as part of its military reinforcements, the day after the Yemeni Houthi movement announced launching missile and drone attacks on Israel and pledged to carry out more.

The recent attacks, according to the New York Times, came amid growing concern about the ability of Iranian-backed militias to open multiple fronts against Israel.

These interconnected militias form the so-called “Axis of Resistance” and also include Hezbollah in Lebanon and groups in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and allow Iran, according to the newspaper, to project power and influence throughout the Arab world, while also acting as a deterrent against any Israeli strike on Iran and its nuclear program. .

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant accused Iran of being behind the recent attacks, saying that "all roads lead to one place: Tehran."

Regarding the Houthi strikes on Israel, Mohammed Al-Basha, chief Middle East analyst at the American Navanti Consulting Group, says that the group “seeks to achieve strategic goals through its participation in a regional conflict, including ensuring political influence in Yemen and the region.”

Al-Basha explained to Agence France-Presse that the rebels are seeking “to gain recognition and legitimacy as an important player in regional conflicts,” in addition to “renewing and mobilizing their popular base.”

The Houthis have controlled the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, since they seized it in 2014 during the country's ongoing devastating civil war.

Since then, the Houthis' ties with Iran have grown, enabling the group to increase its weapons capabilities. The militants are now able to launch more accurate and longer-range missiles, according to the New York Times.

In Syria, which has long had tense relations with Israel, Iranian-backed groups have flourished since the Syrian regime lost control of a number of areas of the country at the beginning of the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. These groups, trained by Hezbollah, have given them important proxies. For Iran in Syria, according to the same source.

"Share the burden"

By launching attacks on Israel from Syria and Yemen, the newspaper notes, “Iran is using its proxies to share the burden of retaliatory strikes.”

Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said, “The axis of resistance is a loose alliance,” noting that it is “like NATO... the battle of one member is the battle of all.”

The New York Times explained that Hezbollah is largely viewed as "the most advanced militia in this axis, as it possesses missiles and missiles that can penetrate deep into Israel and precisely target important infrastructure."

While Hezbollah fired missiles at northern Israel, it mostly refrained from fully joining the fighting and opened a second front against Israel, according to the newspaper, which indicated that analysts believe that “Tehran likely considered Hezbollah a very important card that it did not want to use.” "It's there now."

Washington warned Iran and its allies against expanding the scope of the conflict, and deployed a submarine and two aircraft carriers in the region to “deter” the entry of other parties into the war.

Iran denies its involvement in the attacks that targeted Israel and American forces in the Middle East.

Tehran's ambassador to the United States, Amir Saeed Irawani, said on Thursday that separatist groups are responding to the Israeli attack that killed more than ten thousand Palestinians in Gaza.

"It is a natural reaction from resistance groups. It is their choice and their direction," Irawani said in an interview with CNN.

However, the White House rejected the ambassador's assumptions.

Source: Alhurra