In recent days, a senior Iranian military commander boasted that his country has built "six armies outside its borders that work for it."

The commander attributed the statement to Qassem Soleimani, the late commander of Iran's overseas Quds Force, and went on to name these armies as Hizballah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Iranian-sponsored militias in Syria, the Iranian-backed militias of Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen.

What the officer did not say, however, is that one of these terror armies – Hamas – is busy building a second front against Israel in Lebanon, and that it is trampling on Hizballah's toes in the process. While Hizballah monitors Hamas's activities in Lebanon, this is not always sufficient to control its activities, and Hamas is capable of not giving Hizballah the "head's up" before it uses Lebanon as a base to attack Israel.

Maj. (res.) Tal Beeri, director of the research department at the Alma Research and Education Center, which sheds light on security threats to Israel emanating from Syria and Lebanon, is preparing a major investigative report into Hamas's presence in Lebanon – and his findings are surprising.

The report, which is scheduled to be released later this month, identifies Hamas's working plans, senior military operatives, and the location of some key Hamas sites on Lebanese territory. It also analyzes the significance of this activity in regard to Sunni Hamas's relationship to the radical Shi'ite axis that is led by Iran.

"Hamas's activities in Lebanon, like those of Hizballah, can be divided along two central axes," Beeri, who served for 20 years in the IDF's Military Intelligence Directorate, told the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "The first is the political-civilian sphere, and the second is the military-terrorist area."

Hamas focused on protecting the interests of the roughly 200,000 Palestinians in Lebanon who have never received Lebanese citizenship. "The most prominent example of such activities is the campaign to change Lebanese employment laws to stop discrimination against Palestinians, as well as promoting welfare projects," said Beeri.

But the lion's share of resources goes to Hamas's military-terrorist program in Lebanon. The effort is led by Salah Al-Arouri, the deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, and the second in command to Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh. Arouri is also responsible for orchestrating Hamas's terrorist activities in the West Bank.