Documents seized by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip revealed a plan that Hamas had been working to implement for years with the aim of building a military infrastructure in Lebanon and opening an additional front against Israel.
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, headed by Major General Meir Amit, analyzed the documents – which the Israeli army claimed belonged to the movement – and published this week the results of its study, which showed that the roots of the Hamas project in Lebanon date back to the beginning of the 1990s, specifically after the deportation of 415 members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements to the Marj al-Zuhur area in southern Lebanon in 1992. There, Hamas strengthened its ties with Hezbollah, Iran, and the Palestinians in the refugee camps in Lebanon.
According to the documents, senior Hamas officials began discussing the establishment of a military force in Lebanon in 2012 with former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and a representative of the Iranian Quds Force. The plan later evolved to include forming combat cells, launching rockets, preparing for infiltration operations into Israel, and purchasing and manufacturing weapons.
During Operation “Guardian of the Walls” in 2021 in Gaza, this military structure became operational, as Hamas launched rockets from Lebanon with the approval of Hezbollah, and established a joint operations room in Beirut with the party and Iranian representatives.
Following that confrontation, Hamas leader in Gaza at the time, Yahya Sinwar, pushed for expanding the project. Documents dating back to 2022 revealed a plan to form a force of approximately 2,000 Hamas fighters operating from Lebanon against Israel. This force was intended to work alongside Hezbollah's Radwan Force and participate in infiltration operations into Israel.
Although Hamas was unable to implement the plan to the extent it had hoped, its military wing in Lebanon participated in the war that broke out after October 7, fighting alongside Hezbollah, and claimed responsibility for 13 attacks against northern Israel.
The authors of the study believe that these data are of great importance, since the Lebanese government’s decision to impose disarmament on Hamas, if taken, will not only remove an additional military front that can be used against Israel, but will also weaken the movement’s influence within the refugee camps and its standing in the face of Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the region as a whole.
