The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Gaza-based Islamist terror outfit Hamas have decided to restore their ties, which had been disrupted in the wake of the Syrain conflict. The Shi’ite theocracy of Iran has been backing the Assad Regime and Hamas rooting for the Sunni-Islamist militia.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif hosted a delegation of senior Hamas operatives earlier this week, Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Posts reports. Hamas delegation is in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s newly appointed President Hassan Rouhani.
The Hamas delegation, composed of terrorist outfit’s top leadership, declared in a statement it wants to put the past behind and “turn a new page in bilateral relations.” “[The] renewing of ties between Iran and Hamas as a priority for the Islamic world in its efforts to defeat Israel,” reported the Israeli news website Times of Israel, quoting Ezzat al-Resheq, the member of the Hamas delegation to Tehran:
Senior members of the Hamas terror group met on Monday in Iran with representatives of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard, according to Arabic media reports.A high-level Hamas delegation arrived in Tehran on Friday in order to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and to “turn a new page in bilateral relations” between the two sides, according to a statement by Hamas.This is the first Hamas visit to Iran since the group elected new leadership earlier in 2017. The rapprochement between Hamas and Iran is reportedly being facilitated by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran.
After long back-channel talks, both Iran and Hamas came to the conclusion that their Jew-hatred and loathing of Israel was much greater than their long-standing Shia-Sunni feud. In May, Iran announced its decision to renew the funding for the Gaza-based terrorist outfit.
“Hamas believes that the Muslim world should be united and should put disputes aside and join forces against the joint enemy, which is Israel,” said Hamas operative al-Resheq in Tehran. Jerusalem Post writes:
According to a statement by the Gaza-based group “The visit has opened a new page in our bilateral relations with Iran aimed at confronting the common enemy and supporting Palestine, the Al-Aksa Mosque and the resistance [against Israeli occupation].”Hamas’s statement also quoted Zarif as saying that Iran planned to “maintain relations with the Palestinian factions, led by Hamas, and maintain its support for the Palestinian resistance”.
Since its inception four decades ago, the Shia-Islamist regime in Tehran has been playing sugar daddy to all sorts of Radical Muslim terrorist causes regardless of their ethnic or sectarian affiliations. Israel, the only functioning democracy in the Middle East, is regarded by Tehran as an impediment to its Islamist ambitions in the region.
Hezbollah and Hamas are part of Iran’s two pronged strategy to attack Israel. In the early 80s, Iran created Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shia terrorist Militia that it trains and funds to this day. After grooming and funding PLO leader Yasser Arafat for decades, Iran started showing interest in PLO’s upstart rival Hamas. Iran was impressed by Hamas’ ability to create death and destruction, and increased the funding for the group soon after Arafat’s death in 2004.
The renewing of ties between Iran and Hamas should come as a wake-up call to all those in the West who see Iran’s growing influence in the Islamic world as a counterweight to the resurging Sunni Radicalism — be it ISIS, Al Qaeda, or Wahhabism. These Islamists are more than willing to postpone their medieval Shia-Sunni feud if it helps them bring more death and mayhem to the ‘infidels’ under the banner of Jihad.
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