Hamas calls on Hezbollah to unite fight against Israel

GAZA: A letter purported to be from Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ armed wing, on Thursday appealed to the Lebanese Hezbollah group to unite with Hamas in battling Israel.
The letter, posted on the website of Hezbollah-run Al-Manar TV, suggests the Palestinian Hamas and Hezbollah were patching up a rift over the Syrian war.
Hamas has been hostile toward Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has been fighting against the rebels trying to topple him.
“The true enemy of the nation is the Zionist enemy and all rifles must be directed against it,” said the letter, which carried Deif’s signature. “All forces of resistance must direct their coming battle as one.”
Deif was targeted in an Israeli bombing in last summer’s Gaza war.
The letter offered Hamas’s condolences to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah over the killing of six of its fighters in an Israeli air strike on Sunday in Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday he will address the US Congress during a March visit likely to drive home differences with the Obama administration over whether to impose additional sanctions on Tehran.