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Washington (AFP) – On Thursday, the United States warned against any normalization of relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and considered that his reconciliation with the Palestinian movement Hamas showed his “isolation.”
On Wednesday, the Syrian president received a delegation from the Palestinian Islamic movement, and is gradually restoring relations with the Arab world, after largely winning the bloody 11-year war.
“The Assad regime’s contact with this terrorist organization confirms to us its isolation,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
“This harms the interests of the Palestinian people and undermines global efforts to combat terrorism in the region and beyond,” he added.
“We will continue to reject any support for the rehabilitation of the Assad regime, especially from organizations designated as terrorist, such as Hamas,” he added.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, allied itself with Syria for a long time, but took a distance from it in 2012, denouncing the suppression of protests.
The Damascus visit also comes in light of the improvement of relations between Hamas and Hezbollah, with Iranian mediation.
Assad visited the United Arab Emirates in March, in an indication of normalization that the United States, a close partner of the Gulf Arab states, has condemned.
© 2022 AFP