GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Hamas movement is carrying on with its efforts to repair ties with the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis, which deteriorated during the Syrian civil war. Hamas had opted for an impartial stance in the Syrian internal conflict and its leaders left Damascus in 2012, though they had been present in Syria since 2001.

After electing a new leadership in May 2017, Hamas managed to restore ties with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Senior Hamas leaders, including Saleh al-Arouri, settled in Beirut's southern suburbs, Hezbollah's stronghold. Hamas also succeeded in repairing relations with Iran as Hamas leaders visited Tehran in 2017 and 2018, when Iran resumed financial support for the movement after minimizing it in 2012.

Yet Hamas faces multiple obstacles to resuming ties with the Syrian government. The latter is still angry at Hamas over its public support for Syrian protesters, exemplified in a 2012 incident in which Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, raised the Syrian revolution’s banner during a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip. Syria also accuses Hamas of providing the Syrian rebels with arms. Hamas, however, has repeatedly denied these accusations.

The new Hamas leadership repeatedly tried to pave the way for the resumption of ties with Damascus. Most recently, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in late March that he rejects US President Donald Trump’s decision recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967.