Video: IDF searches Shifa Hospital for terrorist infrastructure while bringing in humanitarian equipment/Photo: IDF Spokesperson
Iran's supreme leader sent a clear message to the Hamas leader at their meeting in Tehran in early November, according to three officials: You gave us no warning about your attack on Israel on October 7 – and we will not enter into a war for you.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Ismail Haniyeh that Iran, a longtime supporter of Hamas, would continue to give the group its political and moral support, but would not intervene directly, according to senior Iranian and Hamas officials familiar with the discussions, who asked not to be identified to speak freely.
The Supreme Leader pressured Haniyeh to silence those voices in the Palestinian group that are publicly calling on Iran and its powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah to join the campaign against Israel in full force, a Hamas official told Reuters.
Hezbollah was also surprised by Hamas' devastating attack last month, in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered. His fighters were not even on standby in villages near the border that were on the front lines of his war with Israel in 2006, and needed to be mobilized quickly, three sources close to the Lebanese group said.
"We woke up to war," said a Hezbollah commander.
Khamenei and Haniyeh/Reuters
The unfolding crisis is the first time that the "axis of resistance" has mobilized on several fronts against Israel and the United States simultaneously. Hezbollah has waged the fiercest battles with Israel since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and Iranian-backed militias are constantly attacking U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. At the same time, the Houthis in Yemen launched missiles and drones at Israel.
The conflict also tests the borders of the regional coalition whose members — which include the Syrian government, Hezbollah, Hamas and other militias from Iraq to Yemen — have different priorities and other internal challenges.
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