FPM leader MP Gebran Bassil. (Credit: AFP file)
BEIRUT — Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Bassil expressed refusal Tuesday "to have anyone come and use our territory to send messages," speaking at an interfaith iftar in Jbeil days after exchanges of rocket fire between Lebanese and Israeli territory.
The head of Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Lebanon on April 5, one day before dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israeli territory. Israel blamed Hamas for the operation.
The Israeli army retaliated on April 7 at dawn, with strikes on both southern Lebanon and Gaza, after rockets targeting Israel were also fired from the blockaded Palestinian city's environs.
“We only accept Lebanese weapons on our land, just as we refuse to launch missiles from our land whose source is non-Lebanese,” Bassil said during the Tuesday iftar.
Haniyeh's visit came after Israeli soldiers beat Palestinian worshipers at Al-Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan. It is not clear whether his visit was previously scheduled or related to the rising violence.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Haniyeh met in Beirut to discuss "the readiness of the Axis of Resistance" against Israel, a Hezbollah statement said Sunday. The two parties view themselves as a resistance against Israel and are supported by Iran.