Like Wagner, Iranian-backed groups recruit professional soldiers, maintain extensive business interests, and conduct propaganda campaigns, all with various degrees of Iranian backing. Hezbollah runs a political party in Lebanon and produces television series and programs. Hamas, before attacking Israel in October 2023, ran Gaza as its own fiefdom, a miniature autocratic state. The Houthis, trained by Hezbollah, control a region of Yemen, but also see themselves as players in a global conflict, with Israel and the United States as their main opponents.
