Hamas loses Iran funds for backing Syria rebels

[MaxShimba]

Gaza City: Iran has cut up to £15 million (Dh83.7 million) a month in funding for Hamas as punishment for the movement backing the uprising in Syria, the Palestinian Islamist group’s leaders have admitted.

The two once-close allies have also ceased military cooperation, effectively ending a warm relationship in which Tehran provided weapons, technical know-how and military training to Hamas fighters.

The rupture has been caused by Hamas’ refusal to toe the Iranian line by supporting President Bashar Al Assad, whose Alawite regime has a loose religious relationship to Iran’s ruling theocracy. Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, has sided with its Sunni co-religionists who are trying to unseat Al Assad, in common with other mainly Sunni countries such as Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Gazi Hamad, Hamas’ deputy foreign minister, frankly described relations with Iran as “bad”. Asked about Iranian funding, he said: “I can say it is not like the past. I cannot give you the exact amount. For supporting the Syrian revolution, we lost very much.

Hamas loses Iran funds for backing Syria rebels | GulfNews.com

 

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Thursday June 6, the Hamas military wing suddenly issued a declaration of allegiance to Iran and Hizballah.
Hamas is in desperate need of a new patron and even more of cash. Turkey and Qatar have cut off funds to the radical Palestinian movement and so its rulers, with the al Qusayr victory resounding strongly in their ears, turned back to Tehran and Hizballah to beg for funding to buy rockets.
This side-effect of the Syrian war and Hizballah's successful role there is bad news for Israel. Back under the thumb of Iran and its proxy, Hamas is more than likely to scrap its ceasefire deal with Israel after nine months of rocket-free border calm, in its eagerness to rejoin the winning side of the Syrian war.
This would be a strategic slap in the face for Israel and the Obama administration, which helped broker the ceasefire last year, and a major hurdle in the path of US Secretary of State John Kerry and his hard work for reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace track.

Qusayr was a debacle for the West and Israel: Aftershocks in Lebanon, Golan and Gaza Strip