The Lebanese-Shiite Hezbollah may have set up a branch in the Gaza Strip, according to the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar.

The flag and logo of an organization that was launched a few days ago in the Gaza Strip suggest a Hezbollah now exists in Gaza. The organization is called al-Sabirin (the patient) for the Victory of Palestine and its logo bears a striking similarity to Hezbollah’s logo.

Local opponents accuse it of being a Shia movement but its officials deny the charge and stress that they coordinate with other factions to organize their positioning in the resistance.

The “accusation” that al-Sabirin is Shi’ite comes from a Gaza Strip where well over 90 percent of the population is Sunni. A spokesman for the group, Abu Yousef, told the newspaper that the argument of its religious affiliation is detracting from the main job at hand:

“We believe in Islamic unity and we reject any sectarian discourse. Whoever raises this issue serves our enemies the Zionists and the global arrogance that stands behind it which seeks to fragment and divide this nation.”

News of Hezbollah’s possible entrée into the Palestinian coastal enclave coincided with talks between Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas officials.

Nasrallah held “lengthy discussions with prominent leaders in Hamas in the framework of mending ties between Hamas on one hand and Hezbollah and Iran on the other.”

The pro-Hezbollah paper also said that several meetings between Hamas and Hezbollah officials had also taken place.

The organizations became enemies on the battlefield over the last couple of years as they chose opposing sides in the Syrian civil war. This latest meeting is believed to be part of a broader effort to bring the two more in line, as their chief paymaster Iran may well desire.

[Photo: Iftikh / flickr]