The Chief of Staff for the Israel Defense Forces spoke to Israeli air force personnel at the Nevatim base in southern Israel on April 15, praising them for their defense against the attack by Iran. Israel is considering its options for responding to the Iranian attack. In addition, Israel’s Minister of Defense held discussions about upcoming operations in Rafah.
Recent attacks by Jaish al-Adl and ISKP showcase Iran’s loosening grasp over its eastern borders. This trend also underscores the growing grievances of Iran’s ethnic minorities, exasperated by systemic neglect, mismanagement, and kleptocracy.
Israel called up reservists for air defense units amid Iranian threats to respond to an airstrike in Damascus which killed IRGC leaders. After Hezbollah launched numerous rockets at northern Israel on the afternoon of April 3, Israel responded with artillery fire and airstrikes. Israel’s IDF also said it had determined the explosion that wounded several UN observers in Lebanon was the result of an explosive device planted by Hezbollah.
Bill, co-host Behnam, and long-time friend of the show Edmund Fitton-Brown preview and share insights from a project they’ve been working on concerning the Islamic Republic of Iran’s axis of resistance. They discuss Tehran’s extensive track record of not playing by the rules — and not paying a price for it — as well as the origins of conflict between Iran and the West from before the 1979 revolution to tapping their regional proxies on and after October 7, 2023 to target Israeli and American interests in the Middle East — and everything in between.
Bill and Behnam discuss reports of Iran sending ballistic missiles to Russia and the potential for subsequent U.S. sanctions on Tehran (and why that’d be insufficient); why the head of the IRGC Quds Force allegedly paid a recent visit to Iraq; an update on the Houthi-Gulf of Aden-Bab al Mandeb-Red Sea theater, including a new underwater drone threat and why if we happen to see the Iranians “de-escalate” in one theater it’s because they’re preparing to escalate in another (and not because they’ve been “deterred”).
This episode features the most special guest to join Generation Jihad in two years: Thomas Joscelyn.
Bill’s OG partner in crime is back on the show to discuss the newest variant of Disconnect-the-Dots Disease and its primary benefactor who also happens to be the arsonist behind the dumpster fire currently engulfing the Middle East — and the dangerous cost of American ambivalence.
Saraya al-Ashtar, a U.S. designated terrorist organization, and Saraya Wa’ad Allah send their condolences and congratulations to the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades.
Al Qaeda continues to build its network and infrastructure in Afghanistan after the fall of the Afghan government. Al Qaeda opened eight new training camps, five madrasas, a weapons depot and safe houses in Afghanistan that are used to facilitate the movement of its members to and from Iran.
While ISKP claimed responsibility for the Kerman twin suicide bombings, Iranian state media and officials are downplaying the Afghanistan connection and are instead pointing fingers at Israel. Despite internal crackdowns and heightened security measures, Iran treads carefully to avoid straining relations with the Taliban amid escalating tensions in the region.
Bill and Joe are joined by their FDD colleague Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power, to discuss yesterday’s tragic news of three U.S. service members killed in Jordan.
President Biden blamed Iranian-backed militias for killing three US service members and injuring others following a drone attack on a base in Jordan.
U.S. forces hit “headquarters, storage, and training locations for rocket, missile, and one-way attack UAV capabilities,” according to CENTCOM. The strike is the eight against the Iranian-backed militias, which have hit U.S. bases more than 150 times since Hamas attacks Israel in October 2023.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq fired ballistic missiles and rockets at U.S. troops operating in Ain al-Assad airbase in western Iraq.
As the Houthis defy the international coalition thatis struggling to keep the Red Sea open to commercial shipping, the Iranians launched a ballistic missile strike on what it claimed was Israeli intelligence assets in Irbil, Iraq.
Today’s strike is the first to target a commander of the Iranian-backed militias. Abu Taqwa Al Si’adi was a commander in the Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba, a U.S.-designated terror organization.
Four members of Lebanese Hezbollah, and two members of Iraqi militia groups have been killed by airstrikes in Eastern Syria.
Iran has described Razi Mousavi as “a veteran advisor of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps” and a one of “the companions of the assassinated general Qassem Soleimani.”
The USS Carney shot down an Iranian-supplied KAS-04 UAV as it was “was heading toward the warship.” The UAV was likley launched by the Iranian-backed Houthis.
The the U.S. military accused Iran of directly carrying out attacks on U.S. forces. “close-range ballistic missiles” were used in a recent attack against U.S. forces.
Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada is led by Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, who is directly responsible for the formation of the Shia terror groups in Iraq and the killing of American soldiers. An IRGC agent was also listed in the designation of Hezbollah Brigades leaders.
The U.S. attack is thought to have killed a handful of Iranian proxy militiamen. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin did not mention deterrence or a desire to deescalate this time around.
The Biden administration’s Oct. 27 attempt to deter Iran and its proxies from further strikes on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria has failed, as the militias launched an additional 21 attacks since that date.
Iran’s militias in Iraq and Syria have launched at least 24 strikes, primarily with drones, rockets, and mortars on U.S. military bases since Oct. 17. Five of the attacks took place after the U.S. military struck IRGC weapons depots in Syria in a failed effort to reestablish deterrence.
In response to a spate of attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed militias, the U.S. military struck two IRGC weapons storage sites in Syria. After years of largely ignoring these strikes, the Biden administration wants to deter the militias from future assaults. It may be too late.
“Hezbollah Brigades has the capacity to fight against its enemies and confront them by relying on the internal resources of the resistance,” a key Hezbollah Brigades official said. “We are ready for a war of attrition that may last for years, firmly believing in victory.”
The USS Carney intercepted three missiles fired from Yemen as it was patrolling the Red Sea. The missiles appear to have been fired at Israel.
Hamas used Iranian-produced AZ111-A2 60mm mortar fuses and M112 demolition charges in the October 7 terror attack on Israel.
The attacks took place as Hezbollah Brigades, a dangerous Iranian proxy, threatened U.S. forces in Iraq with “the fire of Hell” if American did not withdraw its troops from Iraq.
Further evidence has emerged indicating Russia has begun making Iranian kamikaze drones or at least prototypes thereof.