Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah turned down a request for a meeting by former Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, international Arabic news website Rai al-Youm reported last week.
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According to sources, Mashaal contacted Nasrallah through senior Hamas members stationed in Beirut, but that Nasrallah refused to meet with him or with any other member of the Hamas delegation.
Mashaal visited Lebanon following the explosion of a Hamas ammunition depot that rocked a Palestinian camp in the southern port city of Tyre, and the exchange of fire between Hamas and Fatah at the funeral of a Hamas engineer who was killed in the blast, in which four Hamas members were killed.
Meanwhile, a top Iranian diplomat in Yemen left the country on Saturday following orders by the Houthi rebels, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday based on regional sources.
Hassan Irloo, a member of the Revolutionary Guards, was smuggled into Yemen last year and named Iran's ambassador to Houthi-controlled areas.
According to the paper, the Houthis asked Saudi Arabia – which maintains an air blockade on capital Sanaa – to let Irloo fly back to Iran immediately. The request was interpreted by the Saudi officials as a sign of friction between Iran and the rebel group.
Irloo left Yemen on an Iraqi military plane sent to pick him up after Saudis informed Houthi leaders that they wouldn't let Iran fly a plane to Yemen to get the diplomat, the sources said.
Iranian officials said their diplomat was leaving Yemen to get urgent medical treatment after contracting Covid-19.
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