Iran's Plan to Defeat Israel

In October 2023, rockets, missiles and drones flew at Israel from Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Yemen at the same time. None of them came from a great power. So how did Iran build a network of allies across five countries - on a budget? The money, the smuggling routes, the tunnels and the cheap weapons behind the Axis of Resistance: Hezbollah's rocket arsenal and finance network, Gaza's smuggling tunnels, Iraq's militias on the state payroll, the land bridge through Syria, the Houthis' Red Sea campaign - and why a $20,000 drone can cost a defender millions. This video covers the rise of the Axis, up to its peak in 2023. Next: how Israel brought it to its knees. Every claim is sourced - full list in the pinned comment. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open: four fronts at once 0:39 The idea: export the revolution, cheaply 1:37 Hezbollah: the model 4:25 Gaza: smuggling, rockets and tunnels 7:10 Iraq: militias on the state payroll 8:58 Syria: the land bridge 10:21 The Houthis: from the mountains to the Red Sea 13:02 Cheap drones vs expensive interceptors 15:45 The bill: what the Axis costs Iran 17:01 The peak KEY SOURCES US State Dept via RFE/RL, Nov 2018 (Iran's ~$1bn a year) CFR: What Is Hezbollah? CFR: What Is Hamas? Washington Institute: PMF by the numbers Military.com, Jan 2025 (Navy's 220 missiles in the Red Sea) Middle East Eye, Apr 2024 (defence cost ~$1bn+) Gulf News / AP, Jan 2019 (UN: Iranian fuel funds the Houthis) CREDITS Public domain: U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard (via DVIDS / Wikimedia Commons), Voice of America, U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, CIA, U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Almigdad Mojalli (VOA), Casey Coombs, Iranian archive footage (1979). Pixabay footage (free licence). Creative Commons, all via Wikimedia Commons (links in the pinned comment): Tasnim News Agency: 2023 Hezbollah drill in Aaramta (01, 05, 10, 16) (CC BY 4.0) Yusef Fares / Tasnim: Militant groups march in Gaza (CC BY 4.0) Reza Zargar / Mehr News Agency: IRGC naval parade on Quds Day (CC BY 4.0) Ali Haddadi Asl / Mehr: IRGC Aerospace Missile Exhibition 8 (CC BY 4.0) Majid Asgaripour: IRGC drone exhibition (02) (CC BY 4.0) Khamenei.ir: Ismail Haniyeh meets Khamenei, March 2024 (CC BY 4.0) kremlin.ru: Bashar al-Assad, 2018 (CC BY 4.0) Qasem Soleimani 2019; Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah 06 (CC BY 4.0) Efi Sharir: Intifada in Gaza Strip (CC BY 4.0) Batool Dandash: Arrival of fuel purchased from Iran to Lebanon (CC BY 4.0) Babak Farrokhi: Tehran Old Bazaar (CC BY 2.0) Ennolenze: Geran-2 flight computer (CC BY 4.0) National Police of Ukraine; State Emergency Service of Ukraine; State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (CC BY 4.0) Music: "Drums of the Deep", "Ossuary 1 - A Beginning", "Metaphysik", "Anguish", "Night Vigil", "Despair and Triumph", "Ossuary 6 - Air", "Controlled Chaos", "Crypto", "Stay the Course", "Dreams Become Real" - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License Map data: Natural Earth (public domain). Terrain: NOAA ETOPO 2022 (public domain). Built-up areas: GHSL, European Commission JRC (CC BY 4.0). Town names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Flags: flagcdn.com (public domain). Thumbnail photo: Ali Khamenei (2024), khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0 - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Article screens show short excerpts for commentary; all rights remain with the publishers. Narration voice is synthetic (AI text-to-speech). Stateconomics - geopolitics and economics, explained with maps. #Hezbollah #Houthis #Iran #Geopolitics #MiddleEast #Economics