Iran On Israel's Northern & Southern Borders.

The Iran-led axis is having Israel squeezed between hostile fronts: To the north of the Jewish state lie the Shi'ite theocracy's Lebanon offshoot Hizbullah, which now has missiles capable of hitting its nuclear centre of Dimona, and the 'Alawite/Ba'thist regime of Syria which on April 3 was reported to have called up military reserves in anticipation of a possible attack. To its south, the Jewish state faces Iran-supplied missiles being deployed in the Gaza Strip by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian rejectionist groups. Although the latter groups are all Sunni, they are as committed to axis strategy as the Shi'ites of Hizbullah.

The Gaza Strip borders with Egypt, meaning the axis forces have brought Iran closer to the Nile through the Sinai Peninsula, where local tribal militants get aide from Tehran. At the same time, Iran is active in Yemen, where the Shi'ite movement of al-Houthi brothers is loyal to Tehran and gets training from Hizbullah. Iran is close to the Sunni Islamist regime of Sudan and has lately become active with the Neo-Salafi militants of Somalia who are fighting US-based Ethiopian occupation forces.

This Iranian expansion, however, is a very expensive exercise at a time when the Tehran faces a costly cold war led by the US. Although Tehran benefits a great deal from high oil prices, the geo-political expansion is draining Iran's resources and the country's economy is in depression as a result.