Analysts see that the announcement Hamas The resumption of its relations with Syria following a decade-long rupture indicates a decision to strengthen its presence in the “axis of resistance” led by Iran, prompted by several regional developments, including the Turkish-Israeli rapprochement and the normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries.
Hamas said in a statement last September that resuming its relations with Syria “serves our nation and its just causes,” and that it “is continuing to build and develop solid relations with Syria.”
The movement attributed the move to “the rapid regional and international developments that surround our cause and our nation,” an implicit reference, according to analysts, to normalization of diplomatic relations Between a number of Arab countries and Israel, and its resumption between Israel and Turkey, to which a number of Hamas leaders sought refuge following their departure from Syria.
A Hamas official, who preferred not to be identified, said that “reducing the movement’s role in Turkey has left it with two options: either to stand with Arab and Islamic countries that have agreements to normalize relations with Israel, or to remain in the axis of resistance” in the face of the Jewish state.
Israel and Turkey opened a new era in their relations in recent months, and the two ambassadors returned to the two countries following they were summoned in 2018, following Ankara’s protest once morest the killing of Palestinian demonstrators in the Gaza Strip.
The official explained that the decision to resume relations between Hamas and Syria was preceded by several “secret and public” visits by senior leaders in the movement who met Syrian officialsmediated by the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran.
Political analyst Mukhaimer Abu Saada says that Hamas “has settled its issue with the axis of resistance, although this will affect it internally and regionally.” The professor of political science and international relations in Gaza continues that the Iranian desire to “consolve the ranks of the axis of resistance (Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis)” in light of the failure of the nuclear agreement with the West, in addition to the Turkish-Israeli rapprochement, and with the visit of a leading delegation from Hamas to Moscow All of these reasons prompted Hamas to strengthen rapprochement with Syria.
Hamas’ announcement of the resumption of relations with Syria coincided with a visit by the head of the movement’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh and his deputy, Saleh al-Arouri, to Moscow, where they met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Abu Saada states that the repeated Israeli attacks on Syria and “the heating up of the situation with Lebanon on the issue of border demarcation and the Karish gas field, hastened the need for the axis of resistance to be fully prepared in the face of any Israeli adventures in the region.”
Open a representative office
A senior Hamas leader confirmed that his movement is heading to “open a representative office in Damascus soon, as a first step on the road to restoring the old normal relations,” but added, “It is too early to talk regarding moving the movement’s headquarters to Damascus.”
He points out that a leading delegation from his movement “will go to Syria next week to follow up on the resumption of relations, and to discuss the resumption of work and reopening the office with Syrian officials.” But political science professor Jamal al-Fadi ruled out “that the Syrian regime would agree to Hamas’ return to its weight as it was a decade ago.”
The former head of Hamas’ political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, enjoyed rare privileges in Syria, and he had a personal relationship with President Bashar al-Assad.
After the start of the Syrian conflict, Hamas criticized the regime’s repression for the Syrian oppositionRelations between the two parties were strained. In February 2012, a year following the outbreak of events in Syria, Hamas left Damascus and closed all its offices and activities there.
For years, Syrian officials considered Hamas’ departure in their statements a “fatal blow” to the relationship with Syria, and some described it as “treason.”
Al-Fadi believes that “Hamas’ association with Syria at the present time will subject it to difficult security considerations, and expose its leaders and activists to the dangers of easy Israeli targeting.”
Despite the “negatives” of the decision, in his opinion, Al-Fadi says that Hamas will seek to “be an influential party” in the region. A prominent member of Hamas, who asked not to be named, reveals that he does not support the resumption of his movement’s relations with Damascus, because “Syrian regime He committed crimes once morest his people.” He added, “The reasons for which the movement left Syria have not ended. Hamas stands with the oppressed people.”
Hamas’ decision sparked widespread controversy, which was reflected on social media, in which a number of the movement’s activists and supporters participated. The researcher in Israeli and Islamic affairs, Saleh Al-Naami, who is close to Hamas, considered in a tweet posted on his account on “Twitter” that Hamas’ decision is a “moral sin,” and added that the decision “reflects the imbalance of strategic priorities and political confusion in the movement, and does not express the position of the rules movement and the vast majority of its elites.
“independent appointment”
However, Bassem Naim, head of the Hamas Political Committee, confirms that his movement’s decision “is an independent decision, which came following a thorough study for several years of the internal, regional and international scene, which led Hamas to go in the end with the majority of opinions towards resuming the relationship with Syria.”
Naim says that Hamas is “open to other parties that may be present in a camp contrary to the Syrian orientation,” but “there is no choice but to be in Hamas.” axis of resistanceHe added, “We reject normalization, but we do not declare a boycott of all these entities.”
He points out that Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip for fifteen years, “is keen on the interests of half a million” Palestinians in Syria, and “the need to maintain direct contact with the Palestinian factions” there.
