The Axis of Resistance was an Iranian-led anti-Israeli and anti-Western political and military coalition that was formed in 2004, during the Iraq War. The name "Axis of Resistance" was adopted by an Iranian newspaper in contrast to American president George W. Bush's claim that Ba'athist Iraq, Iran, and North Korea formed an "Axis of Evil." In 2006, Palestinian interior minister Said Seyam recognized the "Axis of Resistance" as consisting of Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas, who held common goals in opposition to Israel and the United States. As the Syrian Civil War escalated in 2013, the "Axis of Resistance" became explicitly Khomeinist and anti-Sunni, with Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime becoming subservient to Iran and its proxies for continued existence, and the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas publicly opposing Iran and Hezbollah and realigning towards Turkey and Qatar. By the time of the 2023 Israel-Hamas War, the Axis of Resistance was recognized as consisting of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian militant groups, with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units, the Houthis of Yemen, and Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela also being considered part of the alliance due to their shared opposition to the pro-Western parties, Israel, the Arab Persian Gulf states, Sunni jihadists, and MEK in the region.