BEIRUT – The Lebanese Supreme Defense Council, headed by President Joseph Aoun, issued a shocking warning to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) “against using Lebanon as an arena to violate Lebanese sovereignty and endanger Lebanon.”

The warning was not preceded by an implicit warning, directly or through established communication channels between Palestinian factions and Lebanese political and security authorities, which makes its timing and purpose suspicious.

Besides, it coincided with a hostile media campaign led by the anti-Resistance team, which operates in favor of the U.S. spy den (embassy) against Hamas.

Washington, backed by Israel, is exerting unprecedented pressure on Lebanon to disarm the Palestinian camps in Lebanon—by force if necessary—and to take measures to contain any activity by Palestinian resistance factions in Lebanon, particularly Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Aoun’s position amounts to a call to cancel the 1969 Cairo Agreement, which legalizes Palestinian military action in Lebanon. 

An informed Palestinian source confirmed to Tehran Times that this surprising move was not preceded by any serious discussions with the Palestinian Authority represented in Lebanon by the Palestinian Embassy.

The source noted that the last two meetings organized by Ramez Dimashqieh, head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, and attended by representatives of several Palestinian ministries and factions, did not address the weapons issue at all.

The informed Palestinian source told the Tehran Times that it was proposed to keep Palestinian weapons in the hands of the Fatah movement to control the affairs of the camps.

The source added that the Defense Council’s announcement might be premature, as there is still no final decision on the mechanism for Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue.

The informed Palestinian source warned of the involvement of Lebanese soldiers in smuggling weapons into the camps for use, as in the past, in internal clashes between Palestinian factions, coinciding with the expected visit of Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority to Lebanon. 

What is surprising is that the visit will take place after Palestinian and Lebanese leaders have decided to reopen the PLO office in Beirut.

Following the U.S.-led media campaign against Hamas figures following the launch of “suspicious” rockets from Lebanon into the occupied Palestinian territories, communication took place between Nabih Berri, Speaker of the Parliament, and Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas official abroad.

Meshaal affirmed Hamas’s openness to any dialogue regarding the camp weapons, saying, “We are for any dialogue that alleviates the Lebanese situation.”

It is worth noting that Al-Julani’s forces (Ahmed al-Sharaa) have arrested two Palestinian leaders from the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement.

The arrests came after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump issued new political directives requiring the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham government to “take strict measures against extremist groups and expel Palestinian factions from the country,” in exchange for the U.S. considering a partial easing of the economic sanctions imposed on Damascus for years, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ added that the U.S. administration stipulated that Damascus commit to banning any political or military activity by Palestinian factions and deporting their cadres outside the country, with the aim of “alleviating Israeli concerns.” 

The timing of the arrests has raised serious questions, given that the Islamic Jihad Movement, though present in Syria, maintained neutrality in the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria that lasted for more than a decade. Unlike other factions, it did not engage in battles on the side or against the Bashar al-Assad government.