Andie Parry, Peter Mills, and Nicholas Carl
Information Cutoff: 2:00 pm 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. For more on developments in Iran and the
region, see our interactive map of Iran and the Middle East.
Note:
CTP and ISW have refocused the update to cover the Israel-Hamas war.
The new sections address developments in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank,
Lebanon, and Syria, as well as noteworthy activity from Iran’s Axis of
Resistance. 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.
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. Click here to subscribe to the Iran Update.
CTP-ISW will publish abbreviated updates on March 9 and 10, 2024. Detailed coverage will resume Monday, March 11, 2024
Key Takeaways:
Gaza Strip
Axis of Resistance campaign objectives:
Palestinian fighters targeted Israeli forces operating in southern Gaza City on March 10. Palestinian
militias reported that their fighters fired mortars and small arms
targeting Israeli forces in the Tal al Hawa and Zaytoun neighborhoods,
south of Gaza City.[1] The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement targeted Israeli forces southeast of Gaza City with short-range rockets.[2]
The IDF Nahal Brigade (162nd Division) has continued to operate in
“central” Gaza, likely referring to the areas south of Gaza City in
which Palestinian militias continue to claim attacks.[3]
Israeli forces are also operating south of Gaza City to demolish
structures along a new road that splits the Gaza Strip between the north
and south.[4]
Israeli forces continued to conduct clearing operations in northern Khan Younis on March 10. The
IDF Givati Brigade (162nd Division) raided Hamas infrastructure used
during the October 7 attack and seized mortars, an explosively formed
penetrator (EFP), and small arms in eastern Hamad.[5] The Givati Brigade killed and detained Palestinian fighters in the area.[6]
The IDF 89th Commando Brigade continued fighting in Hamad in
close-range clashes and detained two Hamas fighters who surrendered to
the IDF.[7]
The IDF Egoz unit directed an airstrike on a Palestinian fighter
responsible for the death of an Israeli soldier in the southern Gaza
Strip on March 8.[8] The IDF Bislamach Brigade continued to target Palestinian fighters in Qarara.[9]
Palestinian militias continued trying to defend against the IDF around Khan Younis on March 10. Hamas fighters detonated a building in Bani Suheila that Israeli forces had rigged to explode.[10]
Hamas claimed the house explosion killed and wounded Israeli forces,
but the IDF did not acknowledge casualties from the attack at the time
of this writing. This attack bears similarities to a Hamas attack that
killed 21 Israeli soldiers as the soldiers rigged a building to detonate
in the Central Gaza Strip in January 2024.[11] Hamas fighters also targeted Israeli dismounted infantry operating in tunnels in Bani Suheila.[12]
The al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, which is the self-proclaimed military
wing of Fatah and aligned with Hamas in the war, reported that its
fighters fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) targeting
Israeli forces in Hamad and generally west of Khan Younis City.[13]
Israeli forces are targeting Hamas nodes involved in attacks outside of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli journalists reported that the IDF conducted a strike in eastern
Rafah on March 10 targeting a Hamas official who was responsible for
directing attacks in the West Bank.[14]
Israeli forces, separately, arrested a cell of Arab Israelis from
Sakhnin that was planning an attack on Israelis in coordination with
Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip.[15] Hamas instructed the Sakhnin cell to construct improvised explosive devices.[16] Shin Bet said that that Hamas is still attempting to stoke tensions outside of the Gaza Strip during Ramadan.[17]
US
CENTCOM announced on March 9 that a US Army logistics support vessel
departed from Virginia to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea with the first
load of equipment to establish a temporary pier to deliver humanitarian
supplies to the Gaza Strip.[18] US President Biden announced the temporary pier initiative on March 7 during his State of the Union address.[19]
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the US plan to provide
aid to the Gaza Strip via a temporary port will “advance the collapse of
Hamas’s rule.”[20] Gallant also acknowledged that Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel would be involved in the maritime corridor.[21]
Palestinian militias did not conduct any indirect fire attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel on March 10.
West Bank
Axis of Resistance campaign objectives:
Israeli
forces have clashed with Palestinian fighters at least three times in
the West Bank since CTP-ISW's last data cutoff on March 9.[22]
This map is not an exhaustive depiction of clashes and demonstrations in the West Bank.
Southern Lebanon and Golan Heights
Axis of Resistance campaign objectives:
Lebanese
Hezbollah has conducted at least 13 attacks from southern Lebanon into
northern Israel since CTP-ISW's last data cutoff on March 9.[23]
Recorded reports of attacks; CTP-ISW cannot independently verify impact.
Iran and Axis of Resistance
Axis of Resistance campaign objectives:
There is no significant activity to report.
[1] https://t.me/qassam1brigades/1747 ; https://t.me/elaqsa_1965/5972 ; https://t.me/sarayaps/17554 ;
https://t.me/AymanGouda/6085 ;
https://t.me/mojahdeenpal/4301
[2] https://t.me/darebmojahden/4562
[3] https://twitter.com/idfonline/status/1766735943451447493
[4] https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/08/middleeast/israel-building-road-splitting-gaza-cmd-intl/index.html
[5] www.idf dot il/184814
[6] www dot idf.il/184814
[7] https://twitter.com/idfonline/status/1766735961281474750
[8] https://twitter.com/idfonline/status/1766735931204047326
[9] https://twitter.com/idfonline/status/1766735965651939692
[10] https://t.me/qassam1brigades/1745
[11] https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-january-23-2024 ; https://twitter.com/idfonline/status/1749794794778337606
[12] https://t.me/qassam1brigades/1745
[13] https://t.me/AymanGouda/6086 ; https://t.me/elaqsa_1965/5973 ; https://t.me/elaqsa_1965/5974 ; https://t.me/elaqsa_1965/5971
[14] https://twitter.com/Doron_Kadosh/status/1766753183194353851 ; https://x.com/fdov21/status/1766800667107066365?s=20 ; https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/1766730882721665383?s=20
[15] https://twitter.com/manniefabian/status/1766766646637560165 ; https://twitter.com/GLZRadio/status/1766792602320273741
[16] https://twitter.com/manniefabian/status/1766766646637560165
[17] https://twitter.com/Doron_Kadosh/status/1766753183194353851
[18] https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1766623783857836091
[19] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/08/biden-gaza-state-of-the-union/
[20] https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1766856735958950144
[21]
https://www.timesofisrael dot
com/liveblog_entry/gallant-praises-us-plan-to-provide-aid-to-gaza-via-sea-says-it-will-advance-the-collapse-of-hamass-rule/
[22] https://t.me/QudsN/380059 ; https://t.me/QudsN/380131 ; https://t.me/QudsN/380144
[23] https://t.me/mmirleb/2518 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2520 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2527 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2529 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2531 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2533 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2535 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2537 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2539 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2541 ; https://t.me/C_Military1/47056 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2545 ; https://t.me/mmirleb/2547
