1 Instute for the Study of War and AEI’s Crical Threats Project 2023
Iran Update, November 8, 2023
Brian Carter, Ashka Jhaveri, Kathryn Tyson, Peter Mills, and Amin Soltani
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.
Note: This update has been revised to clarify that the reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah
occurred in 2022. A previous version of this update did not specify the year
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. Hamas forces north of Gaza City conducted hit-and-run attacks that harassed Israeli forces,
which supports CTP-ISW's previous assessment that Hamas units in the northern Gaza Strip
are screening a main defensive effort in central Gaza City.
2. Hamas Political Bureau Deputy Chairman Saleh al Arouri said that Palestinians in the West
Bank will respond to the Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip, which is consistent with
repeated Hamas calls for further resistance in the West Bank.
3. Hamas political leaders continue to call for Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) to increase its
involvement in the Hamas-Israel war to alleviate the pressure that Hamas is facing in Gaza.
4. Brazilian police working with Mossad arrested LH operatives who were planning an attack on
Jewish targets in Brazil on November 8.
5. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq—a coalition of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias—claimed
responsibility for three attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria on November 8. The Islamic
Resistance in Iraq has claimed 45 attacks targeting US forces in the Middle East since October
18.
