Hamas in first Syria visit in decade as relations thaw

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

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, was one of Assad's closest allies but left Syria in 2012 after condemning his government'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 Palestinian Popular Struggle Front leader Khaled Abdel Majid.

The meeting will be followed by a news conference at 1:30 pm (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 normalised ties with Hamas's arch-enemy Israel in recent years.

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.

The thaw between Hamas and Damascus was brokered by Tehran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a senior Hamas source said.

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

The 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.