Hamas Asks Hizbullah to Open the Lebanese Front

Hamas has asked the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization to come to its aid by launching hostilities on Israel’s northern front. The Russian news agency ROI Novosti quoted Hamas commander Mousa Abu Marzouk as saying, “We hope the Lebanese front will open and together we will fight against [Israel]…There’s no arguing that Lebanese resistance could mean a lot.” Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said his group will “stand by” Hamas but did not explain what that means. He was quoted last week as saying that, “Hizbullah and the Lebanese resistance will stand by the Palestinian people’s uprising and resistance in our heart, willpower, hope and destiny.” It’s also not known how aggressively the Lebanese army will fight to prevent Hizbullah from becoming involved in operations against Israel. Four times since the Gaza fighting began on July 8, rockets have been fired from Lebanese territory into Israel. The Lebanese army investigated each incident and made one arrest of a man accused of firing one of the rockets. Hizbullah, which exerts strong influence in the Lebanese government, is known to control an underground network of tunnels as sophisticated as or even more intricate than the Hamas tunnels and an estimated 100,000 rockets and missiles more advanced than any in the Hamas arsenal.