In a sign that Israel and Iran may be heading toward another military confrontation, Israel’s public broadcaster quoted a “security source” as saying that Tehran is accelerating an arms buildup in anticipation of a potential direct Israeli strike inside Iranian territory.
The source, cited by Kan 11, claimed that Iran is working to restore its regional influence—damaged during the recent conflict with Israel—and is “intensifying weapons deliveries to Yemen’s Houthi movement, supplying Hezbollah in Lebanon and armed groups in Syria with new equipment, while simultaneously speeding up weapons smuggling into the West Bank.”
Regarding Hezbollah, the source said Tehran views the end of this year—Israel’s publicly declared deadline for disarming the group—as a possible zero hour for a direct confrontation. Iran, he added, is speeding up the deployment of its forces and allied militias in preparation for a multi-front war.
A Web of Fronts
Israeli media outlets say Israel is increasingly worried about “operational links” between Hezbollah and the Houthis. Israel has carried out a series of assassinations targeting senior Hezbollah military commanders who, according to Israeli reports, helped build Houthi capabilities.
In late November, Yemen’s Defense Line website published images showing Mohammed Abdelkarim al-Ghamari, chief of staff of the Houthi forces, who was killed in an Israeli strike south of Sanaa in August 2025. The site said the images came from “a leaked video” of al-Ghamari speaking during a training session inside a tent and praising the “efforts and sacrifices of Hezbollah commanders” who had helped the Houthis develop their military power.
According to the site, the training course was overseen by Mohammed Hussein Surur (Hajj Abu Saleh), a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and head of the group’s air force unit, who himself was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon in September 2024. Surur was known within Iran’s regional network as the “architect of the Houthis’ missile force,”. He appeared in pictures wearing Yemeni military fatigues and participating in mountain and coastal operations.
The same images showed Ali Adel al-Ashmar (Hajj Abu Mahdi), another Hezbollah military figure, who was assassinated in Beirut’s southern Suburb in November 2024. According to the Yemeni website, al-Ashmar served as an adviser accompanying Houthi forces on the battlefield in Amran and Saada.
But the most significant blow came with the assassination of Hezbollah’s most senior military commander, Haitham Ali Tabatabai (Abu Ali). He was killed by Israel on November 23 in the heart of Beirut’s southern suburb in what Israeli officials described as a highly complex intelligence operation. According to special sources who spoke to Alhurra, it only took one hour between identifying the operational window and carrying out the strike, a fact that underscores the precision of planning.
Tabatabai, whom Hezbollah publicly mourned, held “senior leadership responsibilities across the Axis of Resistance,” previously commanded the Radwan Force, and according to Israeli sources, led Hezbollah’s operations unit in Syria. During the recent war, he served as the group’s chief of staff after the killing of its top commanders. What had not been widely reported, however, was his extensive role in Yemen.
Last November, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general then, Naim Qassem, said in a speech extensively covered in Lebanese media that Tabatabai had spent nine years—2015 to 2024—building the Houthis’ combat capabilities, a statement that underscores the high priority Hezbollah placed on the Yemeni front. Tabatabai oversaw training programs, drone development, and operational coordination with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Interlocking Threads
The list of Hezbollah commanders assassinated by Israel—Mohammed Surur, Adel al-Ashmar, Ibrahim Aqil, Ali Jamal al-Din Jawad, and Basel Shukr—highlights how the Radwan Force, which was established in 2006 and named after the late commander Imad Mughniyeh (Hajj Radwan), has become Hezbollah’s transnational military arm. Its cadres were deployed to Yemen as field advisers within the Houthis’ “Jihadi Council,” and even took part in direct combat operations, as suggested by published pictures whose authenticity Alhurra could not independently verify.
Other images shared by Hezbollah and Houthi-affiliated activists appear to show Bassel Shukr overseeing a Houthi military drill in March 2024 simulating an incursion into Israel’s Negev Desert. The exercise raised an obvious question: Were the Houthis envisioning an actual ground incursion into the Negev—and through which country’s borders?
The Fight Is No Longer Concealed
The reports of operational links between Hezbollah and the Houthis come as Israel’s Mossad announced—via a statement shared with Alhurra’s correspondent—that it had “foiled Iranian plots in Europe and Africa targeting Israeli and Jewish interests.”
In late October, the office of the Israeli prime minister said the Mossad had identified a senior Iranian official named Sardar Amar. It add that Amar was the head of an operational unit within the IRGC and the Quds Force and who stood behind a series of attempts to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in Australia, Greece, and Germany between 2024 and 2025.
Since October 7, the Mossad statement said, Iran has intensified efforts to activate covert cells outside the Middle East, relying on foreign recruits, encrypted communications, and methods designed to hide any official Iranian footprint. Cooperation between the Mossad and security agencies in multiple countries has thwarted dozens of plots and led to arrests of operatives in networks run by Amar, the statement said.
The Mossad statement also noted diplomatic measures taken by Western governments, including Australia’s expulsion of Iran’s ambassador and Germany’s summons of Tehran’s envoy for a reprimand. In August, Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations and denied that Tehran sought to destabilize Western countries.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei called the Western allegations “baseless and ridiculous,” saying they aimed to “pressure the Iranian people” and “distract public attention away from Gaza,” according to Iran International.
In conclusion, the wave of Israeli security operations and assassinations stretching from Beirut’s southern suburb to Sanaa denotes a new and more open stage in the long-running confrontation between Israel and Iran. Israeli media reports point to ongoing efforts to curb what they describe as Iran’s expanding regional influence, while Tehran appears intent on bolstering its presence and networks both inside and beyond the Middle East. Meanwhile, Israeli officials continue to speak of foiled plots abroad and Iran continues to deny accusations of foreign military and security activities.
With recurrent reports of transnational operational links among Iran-allied factions and the increase in security operations attributed to Israel, observers believe the region is entering a more delicate phase. The trajectory of the coming period will depend on the level of escalation on the ground—and on whether the involved parties can avoid a slide into a broader confrontation that could reset the rules of engagement across the region.
