The monikers attracted by Iran’s network of allies in the Middle East are snapshots of a geopolitical alliance that shapes the region. As Israel seeks to shore up its own side of the chessboard and tensions rise, we take a deep dive. 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 and Veronique Eshaya with Shraddha Joshi, Tamara Khandaker, Manahil Naveed, Hagir Saleh and me, 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, 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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