Documents revealing a direct connection between Hamas and the ousted Assad regime were discovered by the IDF during operations in the Gaza Strip, the military revealed Friday.
The documents include correspondence between senior Hamas officials, including Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh; Hassan Nasrallah, former leader of Hezbollah; and Mohammad Saeed Izadi, the commander of the Palestine Corps within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
“Syria is an indispensable to us as a base of refuge and a space for construction and deployment,” Sinwar wrote in one such letter, stressing the importance of the Assad regime remaining in power. “Through it we can participate in the resistance program of the Jerusalem axis (the Iranian axis).”
Also revealed in the documents are minutes of a meeting between Izadi, Hamas, and Hezbollah officials, detailing how they plan to renew relations between the terror groups and the regime as well as minimize public backlash over future cooperation between them.
Public backlash may lead to 'collapse of Hamas'
A meeting between the former Syrian president and various Palestinian factions was also arranged in order to reduce attention on Hamas.
Haniyeh used the opportunity to request Syria release Palestinian prisoners being held by the regime, claiming that the move would “assist with public outcry” regarding renewed relations between the regime and Hamas.
In a separate letter discovered by the IDF, a sheikh close to Hamas leadership slammed Arab criticism of the terror group renewing relations with the regime.
“We expect Hamas to stand against Iran in Iraq, against Bashar Assad and his regime in Syria, against the Houthis,” the sheikh wrote. “Hamas is forbidden from establishing any friendly relations or cooperation with these… This is a strategic decline that, if accepted, will only end with the collapse of Hamas.”