The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On October 25, 2023, the website of the Hizbullah-affiliated Al-Manar TV channel published a first photograph and a first message from Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas, and the advent of a security escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border. These reports focus on the meeting held by Nasrallah with senior officials from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and on a letter he sent to elements in his organization responsible for the dissemination of information. Both reports highlight the coordination between the members of the axis of resistance in three arenas: Gaza, the West Bank, and the Israel-Lebanon border. They also reveal Hizbullah’s contribution to the Palestinian struggle “on the road to Jerusalem.”
The following are the details from the reports:
On October 25, 2023, Hizbullah’s Lebanese Al-Manar TV channel reported that Nasrallah had met with PIJ leader Ziyad Al-Nakhalah and Hamas Political Bureau Deputy Chairman Saleh Al-Arouri, although no information was provided about where or when the meeting took place.
Al-Manar stated that the three men discussed the recent developments in the Gaza Strip and on the Lebanon border with “occupied Palestine,” and also the necessary steps to be taken by the members of the axis of resistance to achieve “real victory by the resistance in Gaza and in all of Palestine,” and to bring an end to “the treacherous and barbaric aggression” against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. According to the report, the three agreed to continue their coordination and ongoing daily monitoring of developments. The report was published with a photograph of the meeting between the three men.[1]
Also on October 25, Al-Manar published a letter that it claimed to have received from Nasrallah on the same day, written and signed by him and addressed to “the relevant brothers in the Hizbullah units and information institutions.” In the letter, Nasrallah instructs its recipients that in the materials they publish they should refer to the members of the organization who have been killed since October 7, 2023, as “martyrs on the road to Jerusalem.” He wrote that that description “is in accordance with the true character of the campaign currently being waged with the Zionist enemy since October 7 with Al-Aqsa Flood, and also to stress the identity of the victims who are sacrificed for the sake of Allah on the border of Lebanon with occupied Palestine.”[2]
It is notable that in an interview with the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen satellite channel on October 22, the Lebanese Hizbullah legislator Hassan Fadlalla said that Nasrallah is personally overseeing the military operations against Israel and that, “Nasrallah's lack of media appearance is part of managing the battle based on wisdom and courage.” He added that, “When Nasrallah realizes that managing the battle requires his appearance [in the media], he will do so.”[3]
[1] Almanar.com.lb, October 25, 2023.
[2] Almanar.com.lb, October 25, 2023.
[3] See MEMRI JTTM Report: Hizbullah MP: Hassan Nasrallah Is Personally Overseeing The Confrontation With Israel; He Will Make Media Appearances, October 23, 2023.
