A Multi-Front Conflict: Beyond a Simple Answer
To directly answer the pressing question, “Who is Israel at war with?“, it’s crucial to understand that Israel is not engaged in a traditional war with a single nation-state. Instead, Israel is locked in a complex, multi-front conflict primarily against a network of powerful non-state militant groups. The most prominent of these are Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. These groups, however, do not operate in a vacuum. They are key components of a broader coalition known as the “Axis of Resistance,” an alliance ideologically, financially, and militarily supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which stands as Israel’s foremost state-level adversary. Therefore, the war is a layered phenomenon, encompassing direct, high-intensity combat with proxies on its borders, a simmering “shadow war” with their state sponsor, Iran, and persistent, low-level conflict in other territories.
This reality marks a significant evolution from Israel’s past. The major wars of the 20th century, such as the 1948 War of Independence, the 1967 Six-Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, were fought against the conventional armies of neighboring Arab states like Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Today’s battlefields are vastly different, characterized by asymmetric warfare, proxy actors, and a regional struggle for influence that extends far beyond Israel’s immediate borders.
The Primary Combatants: Non-State Actors on Israel’s Borders
The most immediate and violent conflicts Israel faces are with heavily armed groups that control territory directly on its northern and southern frontiers. These are not just terrorist organizations; they are hybrid entities that possess significant military capabilities and exert quasi-governmental control over large civilian populations.
Hamas: The De Facto Authority in Gaza
Perhaps the most well-known of Israel’s adversaries, Hamas (an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, or “Islamic Resistance Movement”) has been the focus of Israel’s most recent and intense military operations. Understanding Hamas is key to understanding the current war.
- Origins and Ideology: Hamas was founded in 1987 during the First Intifada as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Its 1988 charter is uncompromising, calling for the destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state across all of historic Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. While some political leaders have occasionally floated the idea of a long-term truce (a hudna) based on the 1967 borders, the core ideological commitment to “resistance” and the “liberation” of all of Palestine remains the movement’s driving force.
- Control of Gaza: Since winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 and violently ousting the rival Fatah party from the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has ruled the territory as its de facto government. This has created a unique and tragic situation where Israel’s war against the Hamas militant wing is inevitably fought in a densely populated urban environment of over two million Palestinians, for whom Hamas is also the governing authority.
- Nature of the Conflict: The conflict between Israel and Hamas is a brutal cycle of violence. Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has long employed tactics ranging from suicide bombings in the 1990s and 2000s to persistent rocket fire into Israeli towns and cities. The attack on October 7, 2023, represented a dramatic and horrific escalation, involving a large-scale, coordinated ground invasion of southern Israel, resulting in mass casualties and hostage-taking. Israel’s response has been a full-scale war with the stated aims of dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities and securing the return of all hostages.
Hezbollah: The “Party of God” in Lebanon
While the world’s attention has often been on Gaza, many military analysts consider Hezbollah in Lebanon to be a far more formidable threat to Israel’s security. This Shia Islamist political party and militant group is arguably the most powerful non-state actor in the world.
- Origins and Power: Hezbollah (“Party of God”) was formed with the direct assistance of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) following the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Over four decades, it has evolved from a guerrilla militia into a sophisticated military and political force. It holds significant power within the Lebanese government, operates its own social welfare programs, and possesses a military that, in many respects, is more powerful than the official Lebanese Armed Forces.
- A Formidable Arsenal: The key difference between Hamas and Hezbollah lies in military capability. While Hamas’s rockets are largely unguided and numerous, Hezbollah’s arsenal is vast and advanced. It is estimated to possess over 150,000 rockets and missiles, including a growing number of precision-guided munitions (PGMs) that can strike strategic targets—such as airports, power plants, and military bases—anywhere in Israel with a high degree of accuracy. This arsenal serves as a massive deterrent and is the primary reason a full-scale war on the northern front is so feared by both sides.
- The Northern Front: Since the October 7th attack, the Israel-Lebanon border has ignited into a steady, low-intensity conflict. Hezbollah initiated attacks in solidarity with Hamas, leading to daily exchanges of anti-tank missiles, rockets, and drone strikes. Israel has responded with airstrikes and artillery, targeting Hezbollah positions and commanders. This precarious situation has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border and carries the constant risk of escalating into a devastating regional war that would be far more destructive than the 2006 Lebanon War.
“The challenge of fighting an enemy like Hezbollah or Hamas is that they are deeply embedded within a civilian population. They are not just an army; they are part of the social and political fabric. This makes achieving a clear military victory, without catastrophic humanitarian consequences, incredibly difficult.” – A common sentiment among geopolitical analysts.
The Puppet Master? Iran’s Role as the State-Level Adversary
It is impossible to fully grasp who Israel is at war with without zooming out to see the architect of the regional conflict: Iran. While Israel has formal peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan and normalizing relations with several other Arab nations (the Abraham Accords), its relationship with Iran is one of bitter, existential enmity.
The “Axis of Resistance”: A Strategy of Proxy Warfare
Iran’s primary strategy against Israel is not direct confrontation but proxy warfare. It has cultivated, funded, and armed a network of groups across the Middle East known as the “Axis of Resistance.” This alliance is united by its opposition to Israel and the United States. This strategy allows Iran to bleed its adversary, project power across the region, and maintain plausible deniability, all while avoiding a direct conventional war it would likely lose.
How Iran Empowers its Proxies:
- Massive Funding: Iran provides hundreds of millions of dollars annually to its key proxies. Reports indicate that Hezbollah receives the lion’s share, estimated at upwards of $700 million per year, while Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad also receive substantial financial support. This money pays for weapons, salaries for fighters, and the social services that help the groups maintain popular support.
- Advanced Weaponry: Iran doesn’t just provide money; it supplies the hardware of war. It smuggles rockets, drones, anti-tank missiles, and the technological know-how for these groups to produce their own weapons locally. The sophistication of Hezbollah’s precision missiles and the drones used by Hamas and the Houthis are a direct result of Iranian assistance.
- Military Training and Expertise: The IRGC’s elite Quds Force, a unit specializing in unconventional warfare and foreign operations, provides tactical training, strategic guidance, and intelligence support to its proxies. They have effectively taught these groups how to fight a modern, asymmetric war against a technologically superior military like the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
This proxy network is the primary instrument of Iran’s foreign policy and the central reason why a conflict in Gaza can so quickly threaten to ignite the entire region.
The Shadow War: Direct but Covert Confrontation
Beyond the proxies, a direct but largely undeclared “shadow war” has been raging between Israel and Iran for years. This conflict is fought in the shadows through espionage, cyberattacks, and targeted assassinations.
- Israeli Actions: Israel has allegedly conducted hundreds of airstrikes in Syria to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military foothold and to destroy advanced weapon shipments destined for Hezbollah. It has also been blamed for assassinating key Iranian nuclear scientists and military commanders, most notably Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani (in a US drone strike with Israeli intelligence support) and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of Iran’s nuclear program.
- Iranian Actions: Iran has responded with cyberattacks on Israeli water and infrastructure systems, attacks on Israeli-owned or linked commercial shipping vessels, and attempts to orchestrate attacks against Israeli tourists and diplomats abroad.
This shadow war dramatically escalated in April 2024, when Iran, for the first time, launched a direct, large-scale missile and drone attack on Israel from its own territory in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus. While the attack was almost entirely intercepted by Israel and its allies, it shattered the long-held doctrine of proxy conflict and brought the two nations to the brink of open, direct war.
Other Factions and Arenas of Conflict
While Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are the main players, the conflict involves other groups and takes place in other arenas, further illustrating its complexity.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ): The Ideological Hardliner
Often operating in Hamas’s shadow in Gaza, the PIJ is another key militant group. It is smaller than Hamas but in some ways more ideologically rigid. PIJ rejects any political process outright and is solely dedicated to military struggle. Crucially, it is considered to be even more closely aligned with Iran, often acting as Tehran’s most direct proxy in the Palestinian arena. PIJ is frequently responsible for initiating rounds of rocket fire, sometimes spoiling potential ceasefire agreements between Israel and Hamas.
The West Bank: A Tinderbox of Militancy
The situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is different from Gaza. There is no open war, but rather a persistent, low-level insurgency. The Palestinian Authority (PA), a rival to Hamas, maintains nominal security control in major Palestinian cities, but its authority has been severely weakened. In recent years, new, localized militant cells like the Jenin Brigades and the Lions’ Den have emerged, composed of young, disaffected Palestinians loosely affiliated with established factions. The IDF conducts near-nightly raids in the West Bank to arrest suspected militants, leading to frequent clashes and casualties. This ongoing friction creates a constant state of tension that could easily boil over.
The Houthis in Yemen: A Distant but Disruptive Front
The entrance of the Houthis (Ansar Allah), an Iran-backed Zaydi Shia movement that controls much of Yemen, has internationalized the conflict. In solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, the Houthis have launched long-range ballistic missiles and drones toward southern Israel. More significantly, they have launched a sustained campaign of attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s most critical maritime trade routes. These actions, while geographically distant, demonstrate the reach of Iran’s Axis of Resistance and have successfully disrupted global trade, drawing a military response from the United States and its allies.
A Comparative Overview of Israel’s Adversaries
To clarify the roles and threats posed by these different actors, the following table provides a professional, at-a-glance summary.
| Adversary | Location | Primary Backer | Ideology | Key Threat to Israel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamas | Gaza Strip | Iran, Qatar (financial/political) | Sunni Islamism, Palestinian Nationalism | Persistent rocket fire, cross-border attacks, control of a hostile territory on the southern border. |
| Hezbollah | Lebanon | Iran | Shia Islamism, Lebanese Political Power | Vast arsenal of precision-guided missiles capable of overwhelming Israeli defenses and striking strategic national infrastructure. |
| Iran | Iran | N/A (State Actor) | Shia Theocracy (Khomeinism) | Sponsorship of the “Axis of Resistance,” its nuclear program, and the potential for direct state-to-state war. |
| Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) | Gaza Strip, West Bank | Iran | Sunni Islamism (focused purely on military struggle) | Acts as a conflict catalyst; highly dependent on Iran and often more aggressive than Hamas. |
| The Houthis (Ansar Allah) | Yemen | Iran | Zaydi Shia Islamism | Long-range missile threats to southern Israel and disruption of vital maritime trade in the Red Sea. |
Conclusion: A Perpetual State of Conflict, Not a Single War
In conclusion, the question of “Who is Israel at war with?” has no simple answer because Israel is not in a single, declared war. It is managing a perpetual, multi-layered state of conflict against a network of determined adversaries, each with different capabilities but a shared goal.
The war is fought on several fronts simultaneously: a high-intensity ground and air war against Hamas in Gaza; a simmering, high-stakes confrontation with the heavily armed Hezbollah in Lebanon; and a long-running shadow war of sabotage and strikes against the conflict’s primary sponsor, Iran. This is further complicated by smaller but potent factions like Palestinian Islamic Jihad and distant but disruptive actors like the Houthis.
This modern form of asymmetric, proxy-fueled conflict presents an immense challenge. It is a war not just against armies, but against deeply entrenched ideologies and hybrid groups that are woven into the very fabric of the societies in which they operate. The future of this conflict seems inextricably linked to the broader regional power struggle between Israel and its allies on one side, and Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” on the other, making a singular, decisive resolution an incredibly remote possibility.