Hamas doesn't want to step on Hezbollah's feet.
Gaza City, August 24 - Leaders of the Islamist terrorist group that governs this coastal territory continued to maintain a low profile this week following indications that their bombastic threats of wielding a massive subterranean inferno against the Jewish State appears instead to have resulted in pockets of flame shooting up from the pavement in the Lebanese capital.
Official reports of the underground fires near the Beirut airport include speculation that the conflagrations involve tunnels and ammunition stockpiles of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement that exerts effective control of Lebanon. Hamas leaders, however, have taken a more cautious approach, given the closeness of the phenomenon to the very thing that they promised with their vow to "open the gates of Hell" on Israel for the latter's moves to counter or prevent attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.
"They haven't been seen much in public," observed one Gaza journalist, referring to senior Hamas figures. "The few that have, we haven't heard them mention anything that's going in on Lebanon - which is unusual. Usually, they make a big deal about the spiritual alliance with other enemies of the Zionist Entity, and how any act by Israel will 'open the gates of Hell' or the like. But they've kept silent on Lebanon of late, and if someone around them does bring it up, they either change the subject in a hurry or make a swift exit."
"It's understandable that they would try to avoid the subject," acknowledged another, also speaking on condition of anonymity, given Hamas's treatment of those who fail to hew to its official line. "With all the funding the group receives from Iran, the last thing they need is to drive a wedge between themselves and Iran's other main proxy in anti-Zionist resistance, Hezbollah. It simply will not do to have Hamas be the source of Lebanese suffering. That's Hezbollah's job. Hamas doesn't want to step on Hezbollah's feet."
Others noted that Hamas's image in Gaza will only suffer further if word spreads that the organization has intruded in Lebanese affairs when Gaza itself demands its full attention. "Hamas should really be focusing on its repression of domestic dissent," explained analyst Ghest Appo. "It risks not only tension with other regional players even with the mere appearance of intrusion, but damaging questions about its seriousness in upholding a repressive regime."
"Of course it would be just as embarrassing if what's happening is that the folks in charge of Hell disagree with Hamas on who deserves to experience its fires."
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