BEIRUT — The top leaders of the Iranian backed militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas held talks in Beirut on Tuesday about last month’s 11-day war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian Hamas, arrived in Lebanon on Sunday and met several top officials, including President Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
On Tuesday, Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah discussed how they can build on the experience of the latest round of violence. The bruising war had caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip, brought life in much of Israel to a standstill and killed at least 254 people.
There were no comments after the meeting that brought Nasrallah and Haniyeh together. It was the first between the two since September.
During the war, Hamas and other militant groups fired over 4,000 rockets into Israel with dozens of projectiles flying as far north as Tel Aviv, the country’s bustling commercial and cultural capital. Israeli airstrikes and shelling caused wide destruction in Gaza.
Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006 that ended in a draw.
After the end of the war in Gaza, Haniyeh visited Egypt for Palestinian reconciliation talks. He later visited Morocco and Mauritania before arriving in Lebanon.
Associated Press
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