Hamas–Israel War and the Evolution of Iran’s ‘Resistance Geopolitics’

Since the Hamas’s cross-border attack in Southern Israel on 7 October and Israel’s severe military response in Gaza, Iran has been central to both public and policy discussions about the potential expansion of the conflict into a wider regional war. Given that Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen were quick to target Israel’s northern and southern borders, respectively, Tehran’s regional ‘proxy network’ has dominated discussions about the possibilities of conflict escalating into a direct war involving the US, Israel and Iran. Further, a series of missile and drone strikes by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) against targets in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan in the aftermath of the ISIS-claimed terrorist attacks inside Iran, have once again focussed international attention on Iran’s sophisticated military capabilities and willingness to escalate.