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No Improvement in Sight For Hamas, Hezbollah Ties

Hamas and Hezbollah are continuing on divergent paths concerning Syria, and the relationship will remain strained for the foreseeable future.
Lebanon's Hezbollah Leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (center, L) meets with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (center, R) in Beirut in this photo released in July 12, 2010. Hamas leader Meshaal visited Lebanon to pay his condolences for Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah who died last week. REUTERS/Lebanon's Hezbollah Media office/Handout    (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS OBITUARY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - RTR2GCPX
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It is no longer a secret that the political relations between the two most prominent allies in the region for more than 20 years, Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have significantly deteriorated in light of differences over the Syrian revolution and the emergence of new powers in the region after the Arab Spring.

In the past, Hamas and Hezbollah stood together in the so-called “axis of defiance” led by Iran and Syria against the “axis of moderation” led Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Then the Arab revolutions spawned a “Sunni axis” led by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. Hamas saw itself as part of that axis, in opposition to the “Shiite axis” led by Iran, Syria, Iraq and Hezbollah.

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