Hamas delegation arrives in Syria in first visit in decade as relations thaw

A Hamas delegation arrived in Damascus on Wednesday for talks with Syrian regime President Bashar Al-Assad in the first such visit since the Palestinian Islamist group severed ties a decade ago.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, was one of Assad's closest allies but left Syria in 2012 after condemning his regime's brutal suppression of peaceful protests in March 2011, which triggered the country's descent into civil war.

"The Hamas delegation arrived in Damascus on a two-day visit," during which Palestinian factions will meet Assad, said Khaled Abdel-Majid, who leads a small leftist Palestinian group.

The meeting will be followed by a news conference at 1:30pm (1030 GMT).

The visit by the Hamas delegation, headed by Arab relations chief Khalil Al-Hayya, comes after the Islamist group signed a reconciliation deal with its Palestinian rival Fatah in Algiers last week, vowing to hold elections by next October in a bid to settle a 15-year rift.

It also comes after Hamas announced it wanted to normalise with Damascus citing "rapid regional and international developments surrounding our cause and our nation".

Analysts said that was a reference to the growing number of Arab governments that have controversially normalised ties with Hamas's arch-enemy Israel in recent years.

Palestinians have slammed the decision by states including the UAE and Bahrain to normalise with Israel, viewing it as a betrayal of their national cause.

A Hamas leader told AFP the group plans to reopen its Damascus office but that it was "too early" to talk about relocating its headquarters to the Syrian capital.

"It seems that Hamas is seeking to achieve its own interests only, without caring for the interests of the Palestinian people," Ibrahim al-Shanti, a resident of Gaza City, told The New Arab.https://t.co/vxqGNPcKf8

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) September 20, 2022

The thaw between Hamas and the Assad regime was brokered by Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a senior Hamas source said.

For the past decade, Syrian regime officials had accused Hamas of betrayal.

The Palestinian group has its origins in the transnational Muslim Brotherhood, whose Syrian branch was one of the leading factions in the armed opposition after the civil war broke out.

Hamas officials have said they since broke ties with the Brotherhood in 2017.