Iran Extends Invitation To Hamas Chief
Hamas sources told Breitbart Jerusalem that the group’s chief, Khaled Mashaal, has been invited to Tehran by the Iranian government for the first time since 2011.
The sources confirmed that Mashaal received a formal invitation, though they emphasized that he has yet to accept, fearing a backlash from Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar.
Sources in Hamas added that Ali Barakeh, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon, quietly visited Tehran on Friday to participate in a discussion on Islamic unity.
Although a formal Mashaal visit to Iran is yet to take place, Tehran has resumed its financial support for Hamas following a protracted hiatus, the Hamas sources said. Initially, funds were channeled to the movement’s military wing, which was soon followed by a full resumption of aid.
The report of Iran’s invitation to Hamas comes after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced last week it had ended its 12-year investigation into concerns that Tehran possessed a previous nuclear weapons program. The move was a precondition for the lifting of U.S., EU and UN sanctions.
Islamic Jihad Working Without Pay
Islamic Jihad sources told Breitbart Jerusalem that the movement has been suspending payments to its activists for three months.
The pay freeze, from which both the military and the political wings suffer, came to pass despite Iran’s recent agreement to continue to support Islamic Jihad financially.
The sources said the Iranian money has yet to be transferred and the reason for the delay is unknown. Islamic Jihad’s headquarters in Beirut, which was supposed to channel the funds to the Gaza branch, said that its numerous queries remained unanswered.
For years, Iran channeled up to hundreds of millions of dollars per year to the organization, but recently, due to disagreements over the Syrian crisis and the insurgency in Yemen, support was suspended.
In August, Islamic Jihad resumed its ties with the Islamic Republic that were cut after the organization refused to condemn a Saudi-led Arab coalition’s attacks on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are also supported by Iran.
The deal was meant to open the door to further cash transfers, but these have yet to materialize.
Al-Sabireen Leader Gives Exclusive Interview
This reporter conducted an exclusive interview with a leader of the up-and-coming Iran-backed militia in the Gaza Strip, calling itself Al-Sabireen.
Inspired by Hizbullah, the most influential Shi’ite group in the region – which is funded by Iran – Al-Sabireen has won many hearts and minds among radical Gazans and is widely considered the next standard bearer in the terrorist struggle against Israel. The group reportedly broke away from the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad.
Last Friday, Al-Sabireen took responsibility for an attempted roadside bombing of an Israel Defense Forces patrol along the Gaza border.
In October, Israel reportedly eliminated an Al-Sabireen commander, Ahmed Sharif Al-Sarhi, blaming him for numerous cross-border shooting attacks.
Mahmoud Abu Alnada, a top commander in the organization and former Islamic Jihad militant, stressed in an interview the differences between Al-Sabireen and Iran. The interview was conducted in Arabic.
Asked about the group’s Shiite affiliations, Alnada said that his group is entirely Palestinian, and active on the political, social, cultural, and military fronts.
“Politically and ideologically,” he says, “we believe that Palestine, the whole of Palestine, should be liberated. Our goal is to unite all the Palestinian people behind the holy mission of liberating our land and frustrating the plans of the Zionist enemy in the region. We are open to all the sectors of Palestinian society that are engaged in liberating our holy land.”
At the organizational level, said Alnada, “We seek a central place in the Palestinian public debate and to implement our plan whereby the Palestinians, regardless of their organizational affiliation, engage in our goal: the liberation of Palestine.”