By Pishtaz and AFP | 2023-10-25

BEIRUT -- Senior officials of terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have held talks with Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah about their war with Israel, the Lebanese group said Wednesday (October 25).

The Hizbullah statement did not specify when or where Nasrallah met with Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri and Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Nakhaleh beyond saying that it was at an undisclosed location in Lebanon.

News of the meeting comes as Hizbullah and allied Palestinian factions exchange daily fire with the Israeli army across the Lebanon-Israel border, raising fears of a new front in Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.

The three groups are part of the so-called "axis of resistance" -- Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi and other Iran-backed armed groups.

Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV said the the three officials discussed "recent events in the Gaza strip since the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood" -- the deadly October 7 terrorist attack in which Hamas militants stormed across the Gaza border and went on a rampage, kidnapping some 220 hostages and killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, Israeli officials say.

The health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza says thousands have been killed, again mostly civilians, as Israel has bombarded the territory.

They also discussed the international and regional stances regarding the conflict, and what "the axis of resistance must do at this critical stage to achieve real victory... in Gaza and Palestine."

Nasrallah and the Palestinian militant leaders "agreed to keep coordinating and daily following up on developments," the statement added.

Hizbullah and Hamas have long been part of a "joint operations room" with the Quds Force -- the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) -- a source close to Hizbullah previously told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The meeting also touched upon the cross-border fire on the Lebanon-Israel border, the statement said.

At least 52 people have been killed in Lebanon according to an AFP tally, mostly Hizbullah combatants but also four civilians, including Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah.

Four people have been killed in Israel, including one civilian.

Pro-Hizbullah fighters in Syria's south have also exchanged cross-border fire with Israel several times since last week.

Suspicions growing

Evidence suggests the Iranian regime knew in advance that Hamas was planning to strike Israel, while there is no doubt Tehran has provided funding, training and support for the militant group for years.

According to a Wall Street Journal report in early October, Hamas officials said the IRGC helped devise the attacks over the course of several meetings held in Beirut since August.

Representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups reportedly attended the October 2 meeting, including Hamas and Hizbullah, the officials said.

The IRGC directly backs Lebanese Hizbullah and also supports Hamas.

US officials, including US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, have issued repeated warnings to the Iranian regime and its proxies in the region about exacerbating and spreading the conflict.

Iran, which in June hosted talks with leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, was one of the first countries to praise Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel.

Yahya Rahim Safavi, an IRGC commander and senior adviser to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, voiced support for the attack, calling it a "proud operation."

Lebanese Hizbullah also praised Hamas for its "heroic operation."