1 Instute for the Study of War and AEI’s Crical Threats Project 2023
Iran Update, November 12, 2023
Brian Carter, Johanna Moore, Amin Soltani, and Nicholas Carl
Information Cutoff: 2:00 pm EST
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.
Key Takeaways:
1. Israeli forces continued operating in the vicinity of al Shifa Hospital without fully isolating
it.
2. Israeli forces said they advanced beyond Beit Hanoun.
3. The al Quds Brigades claimed that it shot down an Israeli drone using a man portable air
defense system.
4. The Associated Press reported that Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip displaced by
the fighting are “openly challenging” Hamas’ authority on a limited basis.
5. Palestinian militias conducted five indirect fire attacks into Israel.
6. CTP-ISW recorded three clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces in the
West Bank, primarily in Tulkarm.
7. The Tulkarm Battalion of the al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade claimed attacks into Israeli territory
from the West Bank for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began.
8. Iranian-backed militants, including Lebanese Hezbollah, conducted at least 11 attacks into
northern Israel.
