Hamas leaders will visit Syria on Wednesday, in a move by the Palestinian group to rebuild ties after shunning President Bashar al-Assad for years over his violent crackdown on protests.
Normalizing ties with Assad's government could help restore Hamas's inclusion in a so-called "axis of resistance" against Israel, which also encompasses Iran and Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group.
Hamas leaders publicly endorsed the 2011 street uprising against Assad's dynastic rule and vacated their Syria headquarters in Damascus in 2012, a move that angered their common ally, Iran.
Hamas's relations with Iran were later restored and Hamas officials praised Tehran for help with building up their Gaza arsenal of longer-range rockets, which they have used in fighting Israel.
Palestinian political analyst Mustafa Sawwaf said Hamas’s reconciliatory move towards Syria aims to create new ground for the faction.
"I think most of the territories where Hamas is present began to narrow, including Türkiye, and therefore, the movement wanted to find other ground, from which it can continue to operate," Sawwaf told Reuters.
In June, two Hamas officials told Reuters the group had decided to restore relations with Syria.
Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, told Reuters the delegation to Syria would be led by senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya, as part of a wider delegation made up of leaders of other factions.
