SYRIYA, Dec 10: The Hamas terror group congratulated the Syrian people on Monday for achieving their “aspirations for freedom and justice” after toppling the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
It was Hamas’s first public comment on the matter since rebel forces swept into the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday, after a lightning advance that sent Assad fleeing to Russia following a 13-year civil war and six decades of his family’s autocratic rule.
“Hamas congratulates the brotherly Syrian people on their success in achieving their aspirations for freedom and justice, and we call on all components of the Syrian people to unite their ranks,” the terror group said.
“We stand strongly with the great people of Syria… and respect the will, the independence, and the political choices of the people of Syria.”
Hamas said it hoped that post-Assad Syria would continue “its historical and pivotal role in supporting the Palestinian people.”
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Meanwhile, footage from a mosque in Damascus aired by Hebrew media Monday showed Syrian rebels vowing to march on Jerusalem.
“This is the land of Islam, this is Damascus, the Muslim stronghold. From here to Jerusalem. We’re coming for Jerusalem. Patience, people of Gaza, patience,” vowed an Islamist rebel, surrounded by a group of gunmen who responded with cries of “Allahu akbar!” (“God is greatest” in Arabic.)
It was not clear which rebel group the fighters represented.
Also Monday, Ziad al-Nakhala, head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed terror group and an ally of Hamas, said that events in Syria were “a Syrian affair.”
“The Islamic Jihad hopes Syria will remain a real supporter of the Palestinian people and their just cause, as it has always been,” said Nakhala.
The Kan public broadcaster reported Sunday that Nakhala fled from his Damascus residence to Tehran ahead of the rebels’ takeover, while his deputy fled with the PIJ leadership to Iraq, to avoid potential assassination by Israel.
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 terror 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 terror group decided in 2022 to restore ties with the Assad government and sent a delegation to Damascus, where leaders met Assad in the hope of repairing relations.
Assad’s Syria and Iran formed an “axis of resistance” with Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group and Palestinian terror groups to oppose Israel.
According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, some 438,000 Palestinians registered as refugees resided in Syria in 2022.
Hamas’s positive response to the fall of Assad contrasted with that of Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah, which played a major part in 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.”
Some among those who overthrew Assad have vowed to aid the people of Gaza, which has been locked in a war with Israel since Hamas launched its October 7, 2023, massacre of southern communities.
