Iran Update, September 14, 2024

Information Cutoff: 2:00pm ET

The Iran Update provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities abroad that undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. It also covers events and trends that affect the stability and decision-making of the Iranian regime. The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) provides these updates regularly based on regional events. Click here to see CTP and ISW’s interactive map of Israeli ground operations. This map is updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.

CTP-ISW defines the “Axis of Resistance” as the unconventional alliance that Iran has cultivated in the Middle East since the Islamic Republic came to power in 1979. This transnational coalition is comprised of state, semi-state, and non-state actors that cooperate to secure their collective interests. Tehran considers itself to be both part of the alliance and its leader. Iran furnishes these groups with varying levels of financial, military, and political support in exchange for some degree of influence or control over their actions. Some are traditional proxies that are highly responsive to Iranian direction, while others are partners over which Iran exerts more limited influence. Members of the Axis of Resistance are united by their grand strategic objectives, which include eroding and eventually expelling American influence from the Middle East, destroying the Israeli state, or both. Pursuing these objectives and supporting the Axis of Resistance to those ends have become cornerstones of Iranian regional strategy.

We do not report in detail on war crimes because these activities are well-covered in Western media and do not directly affect the military operations we are assessing and forecasting. We utterly condemn violations of the laws of armed conflict and the Geneva Conventions and crimes against humanity even though we do not describe them in these reports.

Key Takeaways:

• Gaza Strip: The IDF 162nd Division killed over 100 Hamas fighters and located Hamas infrastructure in Tel al Sultan over the past week.
• West Bank: Israeli forces engaged Palestinian fighters in two locations across the West Bank since CTP-ISW's last data cutoff on September 13.
• Lebanon: Iranian-backed militias, including Lebanese Hezbollah, have conducted at least 15 attacks into northern Israel since CTP-ISW's last data cutoff on September 13.
• Yemen: US Central Command (CENTCOM) destroyed three Houthi drones and one Houthi “support vehicle” in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on September 13.

Gaza Strip

Axis of Resistance objectives:

• Erode the will of the Israeli political establishment and public to sustain clearing operations in the Gaza Strip
• Reestablish Hamas as the governing authority in the Gaza Strip

The IDF Air Force struck two buildings in Sheikh Radwan, Gaza City, on September 14 where Hamas fighters were operating.[1] The IDF reported that fighters used the buildings to conduct operations and produce weapons.[2] The buildings were located near the Dar al Arqam school currently being used as a shelter for displaced Gazans.[3] The IDF denied reports that it targeted a fuel refinery in the area and reported that it took steps to minimize civilian harm.[4] The Hamas-run Gazan Civil Defense reported that the strike killed five Palestinians.[5] The Civil Defense did not distinguish between civilians and fighters.

The IDF Air Force also struck a Hamas command-and-control center in Gaza City on September 14.[6] The IDF reported that the center was based in the former Zaytoun Martyrs School and used to plan and carry out attacks on Israeli forces and territory.[7] The IDF added that it took steps to minimize civilian casualties in the strike.

The al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades—the self-proclaimed militant wing of Fatah—and the National Resistance Brigades launched separate rocket and mortar attacks targeting Israeli forces around the Netzarim Corridor on September 14.[8]

The IDF 162nd Division killed over 100 Hamas fighters and located Hamas infrastructure in Tel al Sultan over the past week.[9] The IDF located a stockpile of rifles, ammunition, anti-tank munitions, and hand grenades. The IDF located tunnel entrances and “surveyed” kilometers of tunnels.

The IDF issued new evacuation orders on September 14 for neighborhoods in Beit Lahia after Palestinian fighters launched two rockets from the northern Gaza Strip.[10] The IDF reported that Palestinian fighters launched two rockets from the northern Gaza Strip towards Ashkelon on September 14.[11] One rocket was intercepted and the second fell into the sea.

West Bank

Axis of Resistance objectives:

• Establish the West Bank as a viable front against Israel

Israeli forces engaged Palestinian fighters in two locations across the West Bank since CTP-ISW's last data cutoff on September 13.[12]

This map is not an exhaustive depiction of clashes and demonstrations in the West Bank.

Southern Lebanon and Golan Heights

Axis of Resistance objectives:

• Deter Israel from conducting a ground operation into Lebanon
• Prepare for an expanded and protracted conflict with Israel in the near term
• Expel the United States from Syria

Iranian-backed militias, including Lebanese Hezbollah, have conducted at least 15 attacks into northern Israel since CTP-ISW's last data cutoff on September 13.[13] Hezbollah launched multiple attacks using dozens of rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.[14] Two of the rocket attacks reached Safed and Elifelet, north of the Sea of Galilee.[15] This is the first time Hezbollah has targeted Elifelet since October 8.

Iran and Axis of Resistance

US Central Command (CENTCOM) destroyed three Houthi drones and one Houthi “support vehicle” in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on September 13.[16]