Beirut, December 4, 2023 (Xinhua) – The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Lebanon announced today (Monday) the establishment and launch of the “Vanguards of the Al-Aqsa Flood”, amid Lebanese reservations and in light of the continuing war with the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip for nearly two months.
The Hamas movement said in a statement addressed to the Palestinian people in Lebanon today that, “in confirmation of the role of the Palestinian people wherever they are in resisting the occupation by all available and legitimate means… it announces the establishment and launch of the vanguards of the Al-Aqsa flood.”
She explained that this step comes “as a continuation of what Operation Al-Aqsa Flood achieved and a victory for the patient steadfastness of our Palestinian people, our valiant resistance, and the steadfastness and sacrifices our people have made, and an effort towards the participation of our men and youth in the project of resisting the occupation and benefiting from their energies and scientific and artistic capabilities.”
The Al-Aqsa flood is an unprecedented operation launched by the Hamas movement against southern Israel, and included the firing of thousands of rockets, infiltration operations, and control of towns inside Israeli territory.
The number of Palestinian refugees registered on the lists of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Lebanon is about 463,664 refugees, according to a report it issued in January 2017.
According to an official Palestinian-Lebanese census conducted in 2017, the number of Palestinian refugees is approximately 174,422 refugees living in 12 camps and 156 Palestinian communities in various Lebanese regions.
The announcement of the establishment of the “Vanguards of the Al-Aqsa Flood” was met with reservations and rejection by Lebanese political forces, as the head of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, rejected the announcement.
Bassil said in his account on the (X) platform, “We absolutely reject the Hamas movement’s announcement in Lebanon to establish the Vanguards of the Al-Aqsa Flood and its invitation to Palestinian youth to join it, and we consider that any armed action emanating from Lebanese territory is an assault on national sovereignty.”
He referred to “what the Lebanese agreed upon since 1990 in the Taif Agreement (which ended the 1975/1990 civil war) on the necessity of withdrawing weapons from the Palestinians in the camps and outside them, and what they agreed upon regarding the cancellation of the Cairo Agreement, which since 1969 legalized armed action for Palestinians from Lebanon.”
The Cairo Agreement, signed in November 1969, authorized Palestinian organizations’ military action from specific areas in southern Lebanon, which was called “Fatah Land” in the 1970s.
Bassil stressed that “Lebanon has a right, which will be strengthened by its national resistance to Israel in defense of itself, and weakened by Hamas establishing a land in the south again to attack Israel from its lands.”
In turn, the head of the media department of the Christian Lebanese Phalange Party, Patrick Risha, said on his account on the (X) platform, “Hamas sees Lebanon as a platform to launch its operations, as the PLO did before it.”
He added, “Yesterday also, the (Lebanese) National Movement and its losing bets, today Hezbollah and its team, made the same mistakes in the hope of avoiding the same results. Learn from the past.”
For his part, Member of Parliament Mark Daou stressed on the (X) platform that “Lebanon is a state, not an arena, and Hamas has no right to invade Lebanon,” adding, “Hamas leaders must immediately withdraw from that step or we will consider this a hostile act against the Lebanese and a breach of their security.”
The Lebanese-Israeli border areas have witnessed daily bombing and exchange of fire between Hezbollah and armed Palestinian movements on the one hand and the Israeli army on the other since the outbreak of war between Hamas and the Israeli army in Gaza on October 7, with the exception of seven days of cautious calm against the backdrop of a truce in Gaza strip.
2023-12-04 21:17:15
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