The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched operation Al-Aqsa Flood (also Known as Al-Aqsa Storm), a large-scale surprise attack on Israel. As part of the attack, the Gaza-based terrorist group fired thousands of rockets into Israel and dispatched fighters into Israeli towns and communities near the Gaza Strip.[1] On October 8, 2023, the Telegram channel of the Hamas mouthpiece Al-Risalah posted an article according to which senior members of the Iran-led anti-U.S. and anti-Israel axis of resistance, among them senior officials from Hamas, Iran-backed Iraqi militias, and the Houthi Ansar Allah movement in Yemen, warned the U.S. against intervening in the fighting to help Israel and threatened that any such intervention would lead to the involvement of all the forces of the axis of resistance in the campaign and endanger all the U.S. interests in the region.
According to the Al-Risalah website, senior officials of the axis of resistance informed it that the U.S. should beware the results of “its blatant intervention” in Israel’s favor in the fighting currently going on in the Gaza Strip, including equipping Israel with advanced weapons to perpetrate “massacres against the residents of the Gaza Strip.” The same officials told Al-Risalah that American intervention will put U.S. interests in the area at great risk and “the gates of hell will open to them – its embassies in the region will be targets for attack and military surprises, and the Al-Aqsa Flood will drown its presence in the region.”
Hazem Qasem, a senior member of Hamas, said that if the U.S. brings its weapons and uses them in the region, it will become a full partner of Israel’s in its “crimes” against the Palestinian people.
Nasr Al-Shammari, the deputy leader and spokesman of the Iraqi Al-Nujaba Movement militia, said that American intervention and the dispatch of naval vessels to the region would constitute “a declaration of war on the entire region and a threat to all the peoples of the region.” He asserted that such interference would transform the U.S. into “a major player in the aggression,” and would encounter a firm response which would endanger the American interests in Iraq and transform all its sites in the region into targets for attack.
Al-Shammari asserted that “the resistance will not abandon its role in the attack on the American interests in all of Iraq, and will make the U.S. regret its position.” He added that, “the Palestinian people will not remain alone in this war, and the resistance in every place is ready to transform the campaign into a flood that will drown its [the American] interests.”
Major General Abdallah Al-Ja’fari, spokesman for the aerial defense forces of the Houthi Ansar Allah movement in Yemen, declared that “the campaign being led by the Palestinian resistance is the start of a comprehensive campaign that all the forces of the axis [of resistance] will join.” He also said that “Washington wants to protect its forward operating base in the region, in the form of the [Israeli] entity, but it will realize that all its bases are in range of attack.”
He further claimed that Yemen has “accurate missiles called Toophan missiles which have a 2,000 km range, and can hit Tel Aviv and beyond, as far as Dimona [in the south].” He also contended that Yemen has drones with a range of more than 2,500 km, which can carry various warheads, including cluster bombs. According to Al-Ja’fari, the Toophan missiles have a speed greater than Mach 50, carry warheads of various sizes, and can attack the Israeli nuclear facilities. He also contended that among the axis forces there is a clear agreement according to which if one arena is in need of assistance, the others will come to its aid, and “the American presence portends the intervention of the other arenas in the campaign.”[2]
It is notable that since Hamas launched the surprise attack against Israel, the Iran-backed militias in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen have vowed to support Hamas and the Palestinian factions which have joined the fighting, and have explicitly threatened to attack American targets in the region in the event of American intervention in the fighting in Israel’s favor.[3]
[1] See MEMRI JTTM Report: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Lions' Den Threaten Lone Wolf Attacks, Claim Capture Of Israeli Soldiers, Call On Palestinians To Disable Surveillance Systems As Part Of Ongoing Hamas Attack, October 7, 2023.
[2] Alresalah.ps, October 8, 2023
[3] See for example MEMRI JTTM Reports: Iran-Backed Militia: Direct U.S. Involvement Makes Interests In Region 'Legitimate Targets,' Eliminates All 'Red Lines'; Jihadi Clerics Suggest Overthrowing Regime In Jordan, Drone Attack Against USS Gerald R. Ford, October 9, 2023; Leaders Of Iran-Backed Militias In Iraq Vow Support To Palestinian Factions In Hamas Attack, Threaten To Respond To Any Israeli Or American Attack Against Them, October 7, 2023; and Iran-Backed Militias In Lebanon, Iraq, And Yemen Release Statements On Telegram In Support Of Hamas Attack – Lebanese Hizbullah: 'Rifle Of Resistance Is The Only Option In Confronting The Occupation'; Yemen's Ansar Allah Houthi Movement: 'Yemeni People Are Ready To Participate In Operation', October 7, 2023.
