Nasrallah held talks with prominent officials in Hamas, says Beirut paper
Meetings with Hezbollah leader meant to cool growing Sunni-Shi’ite tension in the region.
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMONNasrallah Nov 14 2013 370(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah held several lengthy meetings with prominent Hamas officials last week, a Lebanese newspaper close to the organization reported on Saturday.The meetings were meant to bring about a rapprochement between Shi’ite Hezbollah and its mother movement in Iran, on one hand, and Sunni Hamas on the other, Al-Akhbar reported. Several meetings have taken place.Relations cooled between Hezbollah and Hamas due to the growing Sunni-Shi’ite conflict throughout the region. Hezbollah and Iran have supported their ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Hamas left its Damascus headquarters in 2012 amid growing tensions with the regime. Hamas at that time supported the Sunni-dominated Syrian opposition.Since the ousting of its Muslim Brotherhood ally, former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, in July 2013, Hamas has come under heavy pressure from the new military- backed regime in Cairo and changed its rhetoric as it seeks to rekindle its relationship with Iran and Hezbollah.Reuters contributed to this report.
