Hezbollah, Hamas leaders meet in Lebanon amid Al-Aqsa tension

By Naim Burjawi

BEIRUT (AA) – Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah held talks on Sunday with Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh amid tension in occupied East Jerusalem.

Violence rose across the Palestinian territories after Israeli forces last week forcibly removed worshippers from inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

The Israeli raids on the mosque triggered rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, with Israeli retaliating with air and artillery shelling.

A Hezbollah statement said Nasrallah and Haniyeh discussed the latest Palestinian developments, “events at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the escalating resistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

The talks also touched on regional political developments and “the readiness of the axis of resistance and cooperation of its parties in confronting all these events and developments," the statement added.

The axis of resistance is an anti-Israeli alliance across the region made up of Iranian-backed groups, including the Syrian regime, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad group, among others.

Haniyeh arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday for a visit that coincided with escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar