By Nohad Topalian | 2024-05-25

BEIRUT -- Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah's recent meeting with a Hamas delegation serves Iran's agenda in the region and undermines Lebanon's sovereignty and stability, without helping Gaza, analysts said.

Nasrallah met May 15 with a Hamas delegation led by Gaza political bureau deputy Khalil al-Hayya. In April, he met with the Doha-based political bureau chief of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.

Since the outbreak in October of the Israel-Hamas war, the Hizbullah chief has held a series of meetings with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

During the May 15 meeting, the two sides affirmed the continued cooperation among the various factions of the so-called "axis of resistance," Hizbullah's Al-Manar channel reported.

The so-called "axis" is an alliance of Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi and other Iran-backed armed groups.

These meetings "undermine Lebanon's sovereignty and endanger its security and stability," said American University of Beirut history professor Makram Rabah.

Rabah said the "axis" led by Hizbullah and Iran "uses Lebanon as a human shield for the benefit of the Iranian project in the region" and is not there to support Gaza.

"The weapons and training that Hizbullah provides to the elements of those factions are not technologically advanced to fight Israel," he said.

The "axis of resistance" purely serves Iran's interest in the region, he said, "and the proof [that it does not serve Lebanon] is that Hizbullah opened the southern front and invited armed Palestinian groups to take part in the skirmishes."

"The war brought woes on defenseless civilians, and leveled villages and towns in the south to the ground," he added.

In service of Iran

Hizbullah deals with the Lebanese state as if it exists merely to serve Iran's goal of consolidating its presence and regional role, Lebanese Center for Research and Consulting head Hassan Qutb told Al-Fassel.

The Iran-backed party does not act "in defense of Palestine and the issues of the Islamic nation, or to achieve even the minimum extent of the Lebanese national interest," he said.

The meetings Hizbullah is holding with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other "axis" militias aim to strengthen Iran's influence and dominance in the region, Qutb said.

Skirmishes on Lebanon's southern border following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war "that were expected to continue for only a few days became an open war on the Lebanese border," he said.

"Internal opposition emerged against this ill-considered engagement in this asymmetric war, conducted without the approval of the Lebanese authority or even the consensus of the Lebanese people," Qutb added.