The Hamas organization has a permanent and established presence in Lebanon. [1] [2] The presence gained prominence following the announcement of the formation of the Al-Aqsa Flood Vanguards unit by Hamas in Beirut in 2023. [3]
According to Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Leader Gebran Bassil, Hamas's establishment in Lebanon raised concerns about Lebanon's sovereignty and stability. [4] [5] [6]
The relationship between Hamas and Hezbollah has developed over the years according to L'Orient-Le Jour . Due to a mutual quest to undermine the PLO following their collaboration with Israel, the two organizations were closely aligned in certain periods.[ citation needed ]
Their relationship deteriorated following Hamas's political alliance with Turkey, a country Iran, Hezbollah's supporter, has had disagreements with. Their relationship worsened in 2011, during the Syrian uprising when Hamas supported the rebels against the government. Hezbollah was fighting with the Syrian government against the Syrian rebels which included Hamas operatives present in Syria. [7]
Hamas and Hezbollah's relationship started to improve in more recent years following the improving bond between Iran and Turkey. Hamas has had operatives over the years in Lebanon, the improvement in the Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran relationship led to an increase in Hamas presence and power in Lebanon, reported not only as political but as military support.
Jeroen Gunning, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Kings College in London, explained that historically, during the British administration between 1920 and 1948, the South Lebanon community and the Northern community were intertwined. Following The Israel war in 1948, Palestinians were forced to Lebanon establishing several refugee camps in Lebanon. In 1969, the Lebanese state granted the camps independence to manage their security. [7]
Historically, Hezbollah's involvement in Lebanese politics was limited to parliamentary activities. However, the withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon in 2000 and Syria's departure in 2005 altered the political and military landscape on both regional and domestic fronts. In response, Hezbollah enhanced its involvement in Lebanese politics, officially joining the Lebanese government in 2005. While Israel's withdrawal in 2000 was hailed as the conclusive triumph for the Resistance in Lebanon, a significant challenge emerged concerning Hezbollah's disarmament, leading the movement to vehemently oppose it and even resorting to force in May 2008, pushing the nation to the brink of internal conflict. [8]
In recent years, various Arab and international parties have passed numerous resolutions and agreements to address the stability and security of the volatile Lebanese region. [9]
In 2004, UN Security Council Resolution 1559 was passed, ordering all armed militants to be disarmed of their weaponry. This was to allow the Lebanese state to assert its sovereignty.
According to a US State Department spokeswoman and several other sources, Hezbollah has broken the UN resolution on various occasions. Over several years Hezbollah has been reported to getting arms from Iran and building bases for the production of independent arms within Lebanon. [10] [11] [9]
The Time of Israel explains the previous agreement that the Lebanese army refrains from intervening in these camps, leaving them vulnerable to the control of Palestinian parties, including Hamas. [1] [12]
In 2017, Yahya Sinwar took over as Hamas leader in Gaza. Sinwar, having close relations with Iran according to New Lines Magazine, repaired Hamas's relationship with Hezbollah and with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. The restored relationship united the organization into an unofficial “unity of battlefields”, meaning that any attack on one member of the alliance (such as Hamas in Gaza) would be taken as an attack on all. [12]
In 2020, Hamas’ leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was reported visiting Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps. [12]
In 2022 Sinwar revealed a treaty between the "Axis of Resistance". Analysts suspect a joint security room exists in Lebanon. [7] Despite the organizations' cooperation, according to Ahmed Abdul-Hadi, the head of Hamas's political bureau in Beirut, Hamas did not inform Hezbollah before their offensive on 7 October 2023 in Israel. [7] [6] In a statement to Al Jazeera Arabic, Ali Baraka stated that after the attack offensive military leader Mohammed Deif appealed for support from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. He revealed the existence since 2021 of a Palestinian Joint Operations Room among the various factions. [13]
Concerns have been raised by the previous Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, regarding Hezbollah's relationship with Hamas. In a letter he wrote in May 2018, he warned regarding the strengthening relationship between Hamas and Hezbollah, referring to them as "the two internationally recognized terrorist organizations.. the Iranian proxy." He refers to a previous letter he sent in 2017, where he informed the UN that Hamas has been conspiring with Hezbollah and its Teheran Sponsor in purpose to expand its activities beyond the Gaza borders. According to Danon, the cooperation between Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran is an international threat. [1]
On 4 December 2023, amid the Israel–Hamas war, Hamas announced the organization's official establishment in Lebanon. The Lebanon-based unit was named the “al-Aqsa Flood Vanguards unit”. [14] [15] [16]
Hamas's announcement called the "Palestinian people" of Lebanon and all fighters to join the group and contribute to the resistance against the Israeli regime's occupation, framing it as part of the broader struggle for the liberation of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. [16]
According to a US official reported on Sky News, Hezbollah had supplied Hamas members in Lebanon with rockets to use against Israel during the 2023 Israel–Lebanon border conflict. [1]
The establishment of the Vanguards during the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel faced severe criticism from various political figures and factions within Lebanon. Many argued that such an organization, with potential military implications, could infringe upon Lebanon's sovereignty and violate international resolutions, particularly the Taif Agreement. Critics, including members of the Christian Lebanese Forces Party and other political figures, voiced concerns about a potential recurrence of historical issues related to armed Palestinian factions operating from Lebanese territory.[ citation needed ]
In response to the widespread criticism, Hamas' representative in Lebanon, Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi, attempted to ease concerns by stating that the organization would not have a military character. However, conflicting statements from other Hamas sources indicated that some members might be involved in armed resistance.[ citation needed ]
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati firmly rejected the establishment of the new organization, emphasizing that it was inconceivable, and stressed that relevant elements had clarified it was not intended for military action. [16]
An Israeli drone attack in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut on 2 January 2024 led to the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of Hamas's political bureau and one of the key figures behind the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. [17]
Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Its armed strength was assessed to be equivalent to that of a medium-sized army in 2016.
Hassan Nasrallah was a Lebanese cleric and politician who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militia, from 1992 until his assassination in 2024.
The Amal Movement is a Lebanese political party and former militia affiliated mainly with the Shia community of Lebanon. It was founded by Musa al-Sadr and Hussein el-Husseini in 1974 as the "Movement of the Deprived." The party has been led by Nabih Berri since 1980.
Abbas al-Musawi was a Lebanese Shia cleric who served as the second secretary-general of Hezbollah from 1991 until his assassination by Israel in 1992.
The Israeli–Lebanese conflict, or the South Lebanon conflict, is a long-running conflict involving Israel, Lebanon-based paramilitary groups, and sometimes Syria. The conflict peaked during the Lebanese Civil War. In response to Palestinian attacks from Lebanon, Israel invaded the country in 1978 and again in 1982. After this it occupied southern Lebanon until 2000, while fighting a guerrilla conflict against Shia paramilitaries. After Israel's withdrawal, Hezbollah attacks sparked the 2006 Lebanon War. A new period of conflict began in 2023, leading to the 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Hezbollah originated within the Shiite block of Lebanese society. According to the CIA World Factbook estimate in 2022, Shiites comprise 31.2 percent of Lebanon's population, predominating in three areas of Lebanon: Southern Lebanon, Beirut and its environs (Dahieh), and the northern Beqaa valley region.
Hezbollah has a Foreign Relations Unit and maintains relations with a number of foreign countries and entities. These are particularly Shia states, but also Sunni groups like those affiliated with the Palestinian cause; and the group is also suggested to have operations outside the Middle East in places such as Latin America and North Korea.
The Axis of Resistance is an informal coalition of Iranian-supported militias and political organizations across the Middle East. Formed by Iran, it unites actors committed to countering the influence of the United States and Israel in the region.
The Iran–Israel proxy conflict, also known as the Iran–Israel proxy war or Iran–Israel Cold War, is an ongoing proxy conflict between Iran and Israel. In the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Iran has supported Lebanese Shia militias, most notably Hezbollah. In the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Iran has backed Palestinian groups such as Hamas. Israel has supported Iranian rebels, such as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, conducted airstrikes against Iranian allies in Syria and assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2018 Israeli forces directly attacked Iranian forces in Syria.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the largest being Fatah.
Saleh Muhammad Sulayman al-Arouri, also transliterated as Salah al-Arouri or Salih al-Aruri, was a Palestinian politician and senior leader of Hamas who served as deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from October 2017 until his assassination in January 2024. He was a founding commander of its military wing, the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades and also served as the Hamas's military commander of the West Bank, although he lived in Lebanon at the time of his assassination.
Ziyad al-Nakhalah is a Palestinian politician who is the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Since the early 1990s, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been sponsoring Hamas with military aid and training and financial aid. Iran has remained a key patron of Hamas, providing them with funds, weapons, and training.
Ali Abed Al Rahman Baraka is a senior Hamas official based in Beirut, Lebanon. As the Palestinian militant group's head of Department of National Relations Abroad Baraka oversees the group's foreign relations. He was previously the Hamas representative in Lebanon from 2011 to 2019.
On 2 January 2024, Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of Hamas, was killed in an Israeli strike on an office in the Dahieh suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. The strike also killed six other individuals, including additional high-ranking Hamas militants.
The Middle Eastern crisis is a series of interrelated conflicts and heightened instability in the Middle East which began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, after a period of rising tensions. Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that the attack was made in response to the escalating Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel then began a destructive bombing campaign and invasion of the Gaza Strip. The war's spillover resulted in a major escalation of existing tensions between Israel and Iran. This has resulted in several proxy conflicts breaking out across the Middle East involving both sides, such as the Red Sea crisis, and the Israeli invasions of Lebanon and Syria.
This timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict covers the period from 24 November 2023, when the first ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began, until 1 January 2024, one day prior to the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri.
Zaher Jabarin is a Palestinian in exile and a member of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). He is the head of the Office of Martyrs, Wounded, and Prisoners, and financial administrator in the Hamas Movement.
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