Military conflict is escalating in the Middle East region as Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group engage in almost daily cross-border shelling.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, met with Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Aouri and Islamic Jihad chief Ziad al-Nahala in Beirut on Wednesday. The meeting came amid a tense war between Israel and Hamas and reports of a possible ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. According to the Al-Manar TV channel, the topic of the meeting was to discuss the way forward to “achieve a real victory for the resistance” in Gaza.
The leaders discussed ways to achieve “a real victory for the resistance in Gaza and Palestine” and end “Israel’s treacherous and brutal aggression against our oppressed and resilient people in Gaza and the West Bank.” “Hezbollah, and Hamas are part of the so-called “axis of resistance,” along with other Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian and Iranian-backed armed forces opposed to Israel.
“Hezbollah” regularly attacks Israelis in different countries as part of its ongoing campaign against Israeli troops in Lebanon. “Hezbollah” and Hamas have a common goal of fighting Israel, despite their differences over leading the future of the Middle East and support from Shia and Sunni leaders.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that if Hezbollah were to go to war with Israel, it would be “the mistake of its life.”
Last week, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin issued an appeal to Hezbollah to stop attacking Israel from southern Lebanon, Al Arabiya reported. Austin ordered the deployment of two US carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean and reinforcement of fighter jets, the newspaper reported.
Amid intensified cross-border shelling from Lebanon, its Prime Minister Najib Mikati earlier reaffirmed the country’s commitment to a UN resolution adopted after the end of the 2006 border raids that led to the 34-day war.
The war in the Middle East erupted after Hamas launched a surprise rocket attack on Israel on 7 October. The militants then infiltrated the country, kidnapping 222 hostages. The airstrikes killed about 1,400 Israelis. Israel responded with sustained heavy airstrikes and a near-total blockade of the Gaza Strip, where 5,791 people have died so far, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry.
