Lebanon would be my best example that is currently ongoing. but Yemen as well. They arm a rebel group like the Houthis or Hezbollah, it gets local support and carves out an enclave. Local govt needs to either pay a STEEP price to expel them, or more often they just make peace and let the group act autonomously to commit piracy or fire rockets into Israel. Syria is another on that list, but its been a dumpster fire with Russian presence, Israeli strikes, US presence, and Iranian influence. they certainly didnt take it over effectively, but had a part in its historic downfall. Iraq as well, but there's deep historic mistrust between the two nations.
just to expand on snipa's comments:
In 2014–2015, Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, seized Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, forcing President Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia. The Houthis opposed Hadi’s government, citing corruption, marginalization, and foreign influence from Saudi Arabia. Iran provided weapons, training, and advisory support, enabling the takeover. This sparked a Saudi-led military intervention and escalated Yemen into a prolonged civil war. The event is one of the few clear examples where Iran-backed proxies directly contributed to the overthrow of a recognized government, showing Tehran’s strategy of using aligned groups to expand influence without deploying conventional forces.
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No one is saying Iran are the good guys. There are no good guys here, we are discussing the current events in Iran and providing background.
This post was edited by ferdia on Jan 15 2026 08:17am