As Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire, fears of further escalation across the region loom. We take a deep dive into Iran’s network of allies in the Middle East, snapshots of a geopolitical alliance that shapes the region. Who are the groups? And why did Iran back them in the first place?

In this episode:

• Imran Khan (@ajimran), Al Jazeera English Senior Correspondent

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé, Amy Walters and Veronique Eshaya with Shraddha Joshi, Tamara Khandaker, Manahil Naveed, Hagir Saleh and Natasha Del Toro, in for Malika Bilal.

The Take production team is Amy Walters, Ashish Malhotra, Catherine Nouhan, Chloe K. Li, Duha Mosaad, Hagir Saleh, Khaled Soltan, Manahil Naveed, Marcos Bartolomé, Noor Wazwaz, Sarí el-Khalili, Shraddha Joshi, Sonia Bhagat, Tamara Khandaker, and Veronique Eshaya.

I’m your host, Natasha del Toro. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Alexandra Locke is the Take’s Executive Producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio. 

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