By Nohad Topalian | 2024-03-30

BEIRUT -- A recent meeting between the Houthis and Hamas in Beirut lays bare Iran's contempt for Lebanon's sovereignty and its own attempt to protect itself as it issues threats to the region via its proxies, analysts said.

In early March, senior figures from Hamas and the Houthis held an "important meeting" in Lebanon to discuss coordinating their actions and expanding the conflict with Israel, AFP reported March 15.

Representatives from Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine met with the Yemen-based Houthis in Beirut, Palestinian and Houthi sources said.

Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah had previously held talks in Beirut with a Hamas delegation led by deputy chief in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya, with the group's Lebanon representative Osama Hamdan also attending, media outlets reported.

While the latter meeting was the highest profile since the January 2 assassination of Hamas deputy Saleh al-Arouri in southern Beirut, the groups have been in close coordination for months.

In the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack, senior officials of Hamas and Islamic Jihad held talks with Nasrallah at an undisclosed location in Lebanon, where they pledged to remain in close contact as the conflict escalated.

Repeated violation of sovereignty

Holding these meetings in Beirut "is a repeated violation of Lebanese sovereignty, and shows the extent of Iran's disdain for Lebanon's sovereignty," political writer and Lebanese Forces adviser Antoine Murad told Al-Fassel.

Iran, which heads the so-called "axis of resistance," deals exclusively with Hizbullah on these occasions, avoiding all interaction with the Lebanese state, he said.

"Holding such a meeting constitutes a blatant challenge to the Lebanese state, which does not initiate any reaction even though it has the right to reject and denounce such meetings," he added.

Groups that belong to the so-called axis are deeply embroiled in current regional wars and confrontations, Murad noted, yet "their officials and cadres enter and leave Lebanon without any oversight or monitoring."

"Such political meetings between groups that are accused of terrorism and are pursued internationally is a black mark on Lebanese sovereignty," he said.

"If this shows anything, it is that Iran is deliberately gathering these groups in Lebanon when it could do that in Tehran or any other place," Murad said.

Iran "views Lebanon as an open arena for its wars and conflicts" that it seeks to keep away from its own territory and borders, he added.

He noted that after Iran-backed militias carried out a volley of attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria, Iran "received a warning from the United States" that it should expect "a swift and forceful response" if it carried out attacks.

For this reason, Iran has continued to hide behind its proxies and to conduct its affairs in countries such as Lebanon, observers said.

Under the thumb of Iran

Hizbullah has attempted to assume a leadership role over the various Iran-sponsored Palestinian factions in Lebanon, "while Iran leads Hizbullah," security expert and retired Lebanese general Yaarub Saqr told Al-Fassel.

The meeting in Lebanon between the leaders of the Palestinian armed groups and the Houthis was a way of notifying the Arabs that they will not be the ones to decide and negotiate the Palestinian file, but rather Iran, he said.

The meeting "falls within the framework of the Iranian escalation in the region through its affiliates," said political writer and AlKalima Online publisher Simon Abu Fadel.

"The publicity surrounding it constitutes a message of threat and a message of escalation at the same time," he told Al-Fassel.

"In the end, these meetings remain under Iran's umbrella, as do the armed groups, Hizbullah and the Houthis, who are implementing the Iranian agenda in the region," Abu Fadel said.