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Source: http://gulfnews.com/news/region/palestinian-territories/hamas-from-friend-to-foe-of-syria-1.1168797
Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' Loses its Palestinian Arm to Syrian War
(Gulf News - UAE) Nicholas Blanford - Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' Loses its Palestinian Arm to Syrian War Before the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011, Hamas was a key ally of Damascus and a component of the Iran-led "axis of resistance" that challenged Israel and the West in the Middle East. But after two years of bloodshed in Syria, Hamas has abandoned Damascus and distanced itself from Iran, a major supporter of the Assad regime. Instead the Palestinian militant group is courting potential new suitors, particularly the small but influential Gulf state of Qatar, and Egypt, which controls the crucial southern border of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and is ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological parent of Hamas.