Times of Israel staff
Times of Israel, Dec. 3, 2021
Hamas has quietly established a Lebanon branch of its Gaza-based terror group in recent years in order to open up an additional front against Israel in future conflicts, according to an unsourced report Friday in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
The Lebanon branch’s opening salvo came during the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas last May when four rockets were launched at northern Israel from Lebanon, according to Yedioth. At the time, the IDF attributed the fire to “Palestinian factions.”
The decision to establish the Lebanon branch was made in 2014 after another Gaza war that summer, during which Hamas leaders found themselves isolated in the fight against Israel, the report said. The terror group decided that a new branch would be formed and that it would be subservient to Hamas leadership.
Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, who splits time between Qatar, Turkey and Lebanon, was charged with leading the unit, Yedioth reported. The branch has initially been tasked with opening up a new front against Israel, with the recognition that its military capabilities will be limited.
Nonetheless, the goal has been to distract Israel’s attention away from Gaza during subsequent wars as much as possible, the Israeli paper said. Hamas recruited ideologically-aligned Palestinian activists living in Lebanon to fight in the unit, which is believed to be made up of several hundred members who operate covertly under the guise of civilian activity
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