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New Delhi: The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, held a secret meeting with the top chiefs of Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Times of Israel reported on Wednesday. The Israeli newspaper shared an image from social media X that showed Nasrallah with Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhala. The image was accompanied by a tweet that said: “Among other topics, discussions regarding the appropriate measures that Resistance Axis members must take to reach a definite victory in Gaza and Palestine took place.”
The “Axis of Resistance” is a term used for a regional network of militias allied with Iran, Palestinian militants, Syria, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other factions, according to the New York Times.
The Attacks From Lebanon
The meeting came after a series of attacks from Lebanon toward Israeli territory by Hezbollah and other terrorist cells. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday that they struck a terrorist cell that tried to fire anti-tank missiles from Lebanon in the area of Har Dov, according to TPS, Israel’s independent news agency. IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday that Iran directly helped Hamas before the October 7 attack on southern Israel that killed more than 1,400 people.
“Iran directly aided Hamas before the war, with training, supplying weapons, money, and technological know-how,” Hagari said in a press conference. He also said that Iran continued to assist Hamas with intelligence and online incitement against Israel, as quoted by the Times of Israel.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned that the fight against Israel could spread to “other fronts” if Israel did not stop its bombardment of Gaza. “Time is running out very fast,” Amir-Abdollahian said in a live televised interview with Iranian state television. “If the war crimes against the Palestinians are not immediately stopped, other multiple fronts will open and this is inevitable,” the NYT reported.
The Response From Israel And US
Meanwhile, a Times of Israel report on Tuesday said that Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati reaffirmed Beirut’s commitment to a United Nations resolution that ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, as cross-border fire along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated. Since the October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists on Israel from Gaza, Hezbollah has been attacking Israel from Lebanon’s border with Israel, firing rockets and anti-tank missiles at Israeli towns and army positions and shooting at troops on a near-daily basis.
The IDF has responded by hitting the terror group’s cells and posts in southern Lebanon, the Times of Israel said. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the military had carried out strikes to eliminate 20 Hezbollah cells in southern Lebanon since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli daily said on October 23. IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said on Sunday that Hezbollah was playing a very “dangerous game” and escalating the situation.
He said that Hezbollah was dragging Lebanon into war. The US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin called for Hezbollah to stop its attacks from southern Lebanon into Israel, according to a readout of a call released Wednesday between him and Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, Al Arabiya reported. Austin also ordered the deployment of two US aircraft carrier strike groups to the Eastern Mediterranean and the augmentation of fighter jets, the daily reported.
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