By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Palestinian group Hamas congratulated the Syrian people on Monday for achieving their “aspirations for freedom and justice” after toppling President Bashar al-Assad.
It was Hamas’ first public comment since rebel forces swept into the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday after a lightning advance that sent Assad fleeing to Russia after a 13-year civil war and six decades of his family’s autocratic rule.
“We stand strongly with the great people of Syria… and respect the will, the independence, and the political choices of the people of Syria,” the Islamist faction that has been governing the Gaza Strip said in a statement.
Hamas said it hoped that post-Assad Syria would continue “its historical and pivotal role in supporting the Palestinian people”.
In a separate statement,, Ziad al-Nakhala, head of the Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed group and an ally of Hamas, echoed that sentiment.
“The Islamic Jihad hopes Syria will remain a real support for the Palestinian people, their just cause, as it has always been,” said Nakhala.
Hamas publicly endorsed the 2011 Sunni Muslim street uprising against Assad’s rule and vacated its Damascus headquarters in 2012, a move that angered Iran, an ally of both Assad and the Palestinian group.
Hamas, whose ideological roots stem from the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, distanced itself from Assad – a member of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam – as he cracked down on the mainly Sunni Muslim protesters and rebels.
The Palestinian group decided in 2022 to restore ties with the Assad government and sent a delegation to Damascus, where Hamas leaders met Assad in the hope of repairing relations.
Assad’s Syria and Iran formed an “axis of resistance” with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and Palestinian militant groups to oppose Israel.
Hamas’s positive response to the fall of Assad contrasted with that of Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah, which played a major part propping up Assad through years of war. Assad’s Syria long served as a vital conduit for Iran to supply arms to the group.
A senior Hezbollah politician on Monday described events in Syria as a “major, dangerous and new transformation”.
(Reporting by Nidal al Mughrabi; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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