“These clarifications reached the [Palestinian] resistance leadership exclusively through a Lebanese channel trusted by all parties, and are believed to be linked” to a former director of Lebanon’s General Security Directorate, according to the outlet. The former spy chief is said to have proven a “pivotal figure” in communications between the US on one side and Hamas and Hezbollah on the other.
Along with the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center outside Dimona, Israel is known to operate the Soreq Nuclear Research Center outside Yavne, Israel. The facilities are operated by the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, and do not generate power for commercial use. The Dimona facility has long been suspected to be the birthplace of Israel’s nuclear weapons program. Tel Aviv neither confirms nor denies its nuclear weapons status, sticking to a policy known as “deliberate ambiguity.” The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that the country has about 80 nuclear weapons in its arsenal.