The head of a Lebanese Sunni political and militant group that has joined the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel on Lebanon’s border says the conflict has helped strengthen cooperation between the two groups.
The Secretary-General of the Islamic Group Sheikh Mohammed Takkoush, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Takkoush allied with Hamas and Hezbollah said Tuesday they are closely coordinating with both groups along the southern border with Israel where they have claimed responsibility for several attacks over the past months.
The Islamic Group is one of Lebanon’s main Sunni factions but has kept a low profile politically over the years. It has one member in Lebanon’s 128-seat legislature. Elections within the group in 2022 brought its leadership closer to Hamas. Takkoush said his group makes its own decisions in the field but coordinates closely with Hezbollah, and with the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The tensions between Islam’s two main sects — Sunni and Shiite — originated following the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632. It has reverberated across the wider Middle East till the present day thus making cooperation between Hezbollah and al-Jamaa al-Islamiya all the more rare. Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 ending an 18-year occupation. But the Lebanese government says Israel still occupies the disputed Chebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba hills that Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war.
“Our relations with Hezbollah are good and growing and it is being strengthened as we go through war,” Takkoush said.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Lebanese Sunni militant group head says coordination with Shiite Hezbollah is vital to fight IsraelThe head of a Lebanese Sunni political and militant group that has joined the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel on Lebanon’s border says the conflict has helped strengthen cooperation between the two groups.
Read more »
Senior Hezbollah security official makes rare visit to UAE to discuss detained LebaneseA senior official with Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group has made a rare visit to the United Arab Emirates to discuss the case of a dozen Lebanese citizens detained in the oil-rich nation over alleged links to the Lebanese group.
Read more »
Hezbollah terrorist caught at border planned to go to New York and ‘make a bomb’A Lebanese man arrested at the southern border told U.S. authorities he was a member of the terrorist group Hezbollah, the Washington Examiner has learned.
Read more »
Man claiming to be Hezbollah bomb maker was stopped at southern border, official saysJulia Ainsley is homeland security correspondent for NBC News and covers the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department for the NBC News Investigative Unit.
Read more »
REPORT: Self-Proclaimed Hezbollah Terrorist Arrested at Border in TexasSource of breaking news and analysis, insightful commentary and original reporting, curated and written specifically for the new generation of independent and conservative thinkers.
Read more »
Hezbollah-trained man arrested at Southern border with alleged bomb-making plans: ReportIt is an alarming report, but one that supports a warning given just last week by FBI Director Christopher Wray during a hearing on worldwide threats.
Read more »