Sinwar thanks Nasrallah for help fighting Israel

The leader of the Palestinian Hamas group thanked Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief for his support in the ongoing war with Israel in a letter released Friday by Hezbollah’s media office.

Yahya Sinwar’s letter came in response to a message sent earlier by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in which he paid his condolence for the July killing of top Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Iran.

In the letter, dated Monday, Sinwar thanks Nasrallah for the “blessed acts” of Iran-backed groups in their support for Hamas since the Israel-Hamas war started Oct. 7, calling the war “one of the most honorable battles for the Palestinian people.”

A day after the militants' incursion into Israel that started the war, Hezbollah started attacking Israeli military posts along the border, triggering an ongoing exchange of fire.

More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since Oct. 8, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups, but also more than 100 civilians. In northern Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed by strikes from Lebanon.