BEIRUT — As Israel staves off rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon's border in an apparent response to the escalation in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque — Islam's third holiest site — a Hamas delegation led by the head of the movement’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Beirut on Wednesday.
Hamas spokesman in Lebanon Walid Kilani said in a statement that Haniyeh headed to Lebanon on a “private visit” aimed to “coordinate positions and strengthen the resistance against the Israeli enemy.” This is Haniyeh's second visit to Lebanon in less than a year.