Masked terrorists celebrate Hamas' 30-year anniversary. (AP/Adel Hana)
Israel is concerned about Hezbollah-Hamas cooperation in Lebanon, under Iran’s auspices.
By: World Israel News Staff
The Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror organization is helping Hamas build training camps and weapons factories in the country, according to a report by a Lebanese newspaper.
Al Joumhouria reported on Saturday that Israel has appealed to the United Nations (UN) to intervene in the matter.
According to the report, Israel sent a letter in recent weeks to the UN Security Council (UNSC) and General Assembly containing intelligence on the terror groups’ efforts to set up Hamas-run missile factories and training facilities overseen by Hezbollah members for “thousands of Palestinian fighters.”
The report was confirmed by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Israel charged that the cooperation between the terror organizations is a “blatant violation” of UNSC Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006 and mandated the disarmament of armed groups in Lebanon, and has asked the UN to act on the issue.
“The issue is on Israel’s agenda at the UN and is regularly raised in meetings, official letters and speeches, both to the UN Secretary-General and UN Security Council,” the Foreign Ministry said in response to the report, according to the Times of Israel.
The two terror organizations are operating under Iran’s supportive umbrella and are funded by it.
“The cooperation between Hamas and Hezbollah crosses borders. We are witnessing the results of the Hamas terror government in Gaza, and now Hamas is tightening its ties with Hezbollah with the blessing and support of Iran, which is working to entrench its own forces also on Lebanese soil,” Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said in a statement following the report.
“I have recently appealed to the Security Council and warned of this cooperation between the terror organizations. I emphasized that Israel will not stand by idly in the face of new and old threats that face it,” Danon said. “Israel will do everything to safeguard its citizens.”
Just last month, the leader of the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, boasted about the large amounts of cash, equipment and expertise it has received from Iran, adding that Hamas is in touch with Hezbollah “on an almost daily basis.”
Speaking to Lebanon’s pro-Hezbollah al-Mayadeen TV channel, Sinwar lauded the “strong, powerful and warm” ties Hamas enjoys with Qassem Soleimani, who heads the Islamic Revolutionary Guards’s Quds Force, which is tasked with operations outside of Iran.
In November, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah met in Beirut with the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, Sheikh Saleh Al-Aarouri, as the two terror groups work to tighten their relationship and coordinate their war against Israel.
Nasrallah confirmed “the convergence between the resistance movements, voicing solidarity in the face of the Israeli aggression,” the Hezbollah-linked Al-Manar reported.
This meeting comes a few months after Iran, Hezbollah’s main supporter, and Hamas had agreed to restore diplomatic relations to the level at which they were before the Syrian civil war, when the two sides ended their close ties.
In recent years, Iran has broadened its influence in the Middle East by supporting its terror network and unifying the ranks operating against Israel.
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