Terrorists and supporters on the Islamic Jihad payroll have seen their salaries cut in half over the past six months. Islamic Jihad also has the most professional and extensive media presence of any Palestinian terror organization, both in Gaza and Lebanon, and they have been forced to shut some offices.
The reason is because Islamic Jihad's main sponsor, Iran, has cut funding in retaliation for PIJ's refusal to support the Houthis in the Yemen civil war, whom Iran supports.
When the war broke out, Iran insisted that the terror organizations that depended on it take sides, but most of them refused because they didn't want to alienate either the Iranians or the Saudis and Gulf states.
Iran has been acting similarly towards Hamas since that group refused to support the Syrian regime against the rebels.
Both terror groups have been trying to mend their ties with Iran. Islamic Jihad believes that things will improve although no details have been published.
But what is clear is that Iran is using both financial and military means to exert its influence on the region. It is not winning any hearts and minds through its ideology.
As Saudi Arabia gets weaker, terror organizations will be more likely to fall into Iran's orbit, or Iran will create new organizations like Hezbollah that will.
Isn't it wonderful that Iran will now receive tens of billions of dollars from the West so it can push its radical Islamic agenda so much further in the Middle East?
