Lebanon’s Hezbollah hosts Hamas chief as rockets fly over Israel border
The delegation has reportedly discussed efforts to coordinate action against Israel.
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.
Haniyeh’s trip follows a series of meetings Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah held with delegations from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in previous months, Kilani added.
It remains unclear if Haniyeh will meet with Lebanese officials. But according to Lebanese journalist Souhayb Jawhar, the Hamas official is scheduled to hold talks with Nasrallah and Nabih Berri, head of the Shiite Amal movement.
