Iran’s military ties with Hamas, cut off temporarily in the wake of the Syrian civil war, have been resumed.
Iranian arms shipments to Hamas were in evidence two weeks ago when the terrorist movement exhibited Iran-built Ababil drones in a parade in Gaza.
These drones have been seen in the possession of Hizbollah and have been used against rebels by the Assad regime in Syria.
Three years ago, after falling out with Syria and Iran over the bloody repression of the rebellion in Syria, Hamas’s leaders closed down their political headquarters in Damascus and moved most of their senior officials out of the country.
Hamas’s rift with Tehran over the situation in Syria also led to dramatic reduction in arms supplies and financial support. For a while, Qatar and Turkey replaced Iran as Hamas’s main benefactors.
But in recent months, the Palestinian Islamist movement has refreshed its strong alliance with Iran. Over the weekend, Nasser Al Sudani, the head of the Iranian parliament’s Palestine committee, confirmed in an interview on Hamas’s website that Iran is prepared to arm Hamas both in Gaza and in the West Bank.
Hamas’s return to Tehran is partly a result of its growing isolation in the Arab world. A number of Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have been cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood, which is closely bound to Hamas.
Hamas believed that it would gain a new base in Cairo under Egypt’s previous, Brotherhood-run government. The new Egyptian government sees the Islamist movement as an enemy of the state, however, and has pressured other Arab nations to deport Brotherhood leaders.
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