Nasrallah Stokes Tension With Israel by Meeting With Heads of Armed Palestinian Groups
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah met with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders in Lebanon over the weekend, where they reiterated their “permanent and firm position” against “the Zionist enemy.”
The meeting brought together three key terrorist leaders backed by Iran, and comes amid heightened tensions with Israel, which has warned that it will target terrorists “everywhere” following several lethal terror attacks against Israelis in the West Bank recently.
Nasrallah met with Hamas deputy politburo head Saleh al-Arouri and Ziyad al-Nakhala, secretary general of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Reports from Lebanon said the meeting involved discussions of “political, military, and security developments, and coordination between the resistance movements, especially in occupied Palestine and Lebanon.”
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Iran is pursuing a policy of “uniting” various fronts to fight against Israel in a number of arenas.
According to a joint statement issued by the three groups, at the meeting they reiterated their implacable position toward the fight “against the Zionist enemy, toward the occupation, and toward the importance of coordination and daily contact between the resistance movements, especially in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.”
Separate reports said that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also traveled to Lebanon and met with Nasrallah.
Last week, al-Arouri was quoted by Lebanese media as saying that any targeted killings of Hamas leaders by Israel would spark “a regional war.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying, “Hamas and the other Iranian proxies understand very well that we will fight with all means against their attempts to use terrorism against us, in Judea and Samaria, Gaza, and everywhere else. Whoever tries to hurt us, whoever finances and organizes, whoever dispatches terrorists against Israel will pay the full price.”
Tensions have been simmering along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon recently amid a series of Hizbullah actions that Israel sees as provocations.
Last week, the United Nations Security Council voted to continue the mandate of its peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, in the border area.
