After 14 years in Qatar - Hamas leadership moves its center of gravity to Turkey
In Istanbul, they welcomed Hamas leaders, released prisoners, and heads of the Muslim Brotherhood who fled from Egypt. Turkey is becoming Hamas's most important base outside Gaza. And what is happening in the depths of the earth north of the city of Nabatieh in Lebanon?
A dramatic event is taking place these days in southern Lebanon. Perhaps because most of it is happening in the depths of the earth, it has been pushed to the margins of the news. About 40 Hezbollah militants are besieged inside a system of underground tunnels. The secret facility, Imad-4, was dug by Hezbollah's military wing on the Ali-Taher ridge — a line of hills stretching from Beaufort to the west, about ten kilometers long.
The IDF has been laying siege to them for two months or more; no one goes in and no one comes out. The Ali-Taher ridge is Hezbollah's second line of defense to the north. The first line, adjacent to the border with Israel, has already collapsed. Imad-4 is a strategic facility, and its fall into the hands of the IDF will accelerate the fall of the nearby city of Nabatieh.
In this case, Hezbollah will be pushed to the third line of defense. This line stretches about ten kilometers north of the Ali-Taher ridge: from the Western Valley towards Kfar Rihane, towards the At-Tuffah area. For them, this will be another defeat in a chain of stinging defeats by the IDF since they decided to enter the war on October 8, 2023.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is personally involved in the crisis and is trying to resolve it without success. Aoun offered the Hezbollah leadership to evacuate the facility and hand it over to the Lebanese army, and in return, the besieged would receive a safe and protected exit. Hezbollah rejected the offer. They are not accustomed to humiliating, publicized surrender and seek to delay it as much as possible. In Beirut, they fear an IDF raid on Imad-4, but the IDF does not need it. A patient and long siege will force Hezbollah to surrender. If they do not do so, the besieged will bring themselves to a bitter end.
Thank you and goodbye
Slowly and quietly, the Hamas leadership is ending the Qatari chapter in its history. The movement's captains, led by the head of the political bureau Khalil al-Hayya, have moved their residence to Istanbul over the past year. In Doha, they left a meager and unrepresentative delegation.
There are several reasons for the displacement, but one main reason hovers above them: the Qataris feel exhausted from the hospitality experience. They prefer to strengthen their contacts with the United States and other countries in the West, and supporting murderers of civilians and kidnappers of children could hinder them.
Because of Hamas, the IDF attacked Doha about a year ago, incidentally paralyzing the Qataris' air defense systems. It was an especially insulting event for them. In addition, their relations with the head of the political bureau Khalil al-Hayya have recently deteriorated. With his election to the position about three weeks ago, his stay in Doha became a forced matter.
This is not the first time the Hamas leadership has migrated. First, it found refuge in Amman. After being expelled from there by King Abdullah in 1999, it landed in Damascus, but at the beginning of the war in Syria, it quarreled with Bashar al-Assad and moved to Doha. Now it is landing in Turkey. Iran was also taken as an option but was immediately rejected. Not only because of its distance from the homeland: Hamas leaders could serve as targets there, in addition to the Iranians themselves.
Turkey is not only the center of the Hamas political bureau these days. Palestinian prisoners released in hostage deals were also deported there. Most of them are life-term prisoners, members of Hamas's military wing. Some of them will certainly want to continue military activity. In Turkey, they met many members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, who found refuge there after the great escape from their country following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi.
Before us, therefore, is a Hamas base that includes political leadership with graduates of the military wing, some with good Hebrew and good knowledge of Israelis, and above them, older brothers from the mother movement. For the information of those vacationing in Istanbul.
The brilliant exercise
The country was in an uproar over the discovery: one Arab country told another - go for a peace agreement with Israel, and then break it and launch an attack on it. Well, not the whole country was in an uproar. Mainly the media industry. The leak, first published on Kan 11, came out of Jerusalem while omitting the names of the two countries in question.
The next day, Yonatan Urich, an advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu, revealed that it was not about Egypt. Reason suggests that it is not about Qatar either, since those involved are entangled with it in these or other suspicions. Then someone added and threw the phrase "Hudaybiyyah Treaty" into the air, and thus the leak took off and soared to the skies.
It was a fairly brilliant media operation, and if one can guess, the one who initiated it was also surprised by the shock waves it created. Its goal was to instill messages or generate thoughts in the hearts of the public that Arabs cannot be trusted at all, and if you wondered why there is no peace agreement with them, not in Syria, not in Lebanon, and not in Gaza, then here is the answer.
Everyone is a plotter, poisonous snakes with a developed anti-Zionist biting mechanism. It is possible that they also aimed at the Arabs among us, because an Arab is an Arab. Unlike Jews, who are all the same.
On the sidelines, it should be mentioned that if we are talking about implementing agreements, Israel violates them without batting an eye. Never mind Oslo, which is an international agreement that has been violated for many long years, especially in its economic clauses. In Gaza, Israel is committing material violations. According to the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement of October 2025, Israel is obligated to open border crossings for the reconstruction of Gaza.
In practice, it opposes the entry of bulldozers for clearing rubble, as well as caravans and tents for housing. It also prevents the entry of the new Palestinian government of experts, which was appointed shortly before the implementation of the agreement and is waiting in Cairo for the gates to open. The IDF attacks the strip daily, some of it in areas under Hamas control where it is supposed to cease fire.
Also in Lebanon, Israel violated the ceasefire agreement of November 2024. Immediately after it came into effect, the IDF adopted an active policy of attacking Hezbollah militants and ammunition depots almost daily. In Syria, Israel is a signatory to the 1974 ceasefire agreement, but has been seizing vast areas of its territory since the coup in which Bashar al-Assad was ousted.
All these violations, and others not mentioned above, came after Israel signed the agreement or gave its explicit word to its friends in the White House. If we press the decision-makers, we will find explanations for this in their mouths. Every violation, they will say, is intended to weaken the enemy and maintain security.
At the same time, the serial violation of agreements by Israel expresses great initiative, a trait that has reawakened since October 7. According to this policy, Hamas or Hezbollah or the Syrian factions across the border are terrorist groups. With such "jewels" one must fight and not make agreements.
If in the years before October 7, Israeli governments had initiated tough attacks on Hezbollah and Hamas, even without provocation on their part, it is possible that the expected disaster would have been avoided. And yet, violating signed agreements is a contagious trait. Today we act like Muhammad in the Hudaybiyyah Treaty, tomorrow they will act like that towards us.
