Following Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's meeting with a Hamas delegation in Damascus on Wednesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price highlighted the US' continued interest in undermining the democratically-elected Syrian President and interfering in the political affairs of the sovereign country while simultaneously looting its oil.

Price announced: "We’ll continue rejecting any support to rehabilitate the Assad regime, particularly from designated terrorist organizations like Hamas," noting that Hamas, as per the US, is a "specially designated global terrorist group that operates a global network to raise funds to support its military wing."

It is worth noting that the Palestinian Resistance group Hamas represents a large portion of the Palestinian people.

Furthermore, Syria and Palestine are two neighboring countries that continue to consider "Israel" an enemy for occupying their territories, Damascus and Hamas have recently reconciled following a decade of strained relations. This was a step forward on the path towards liberation, however, the US says that the reconciliation between the two neighbors who seek to liberate their territories "harms the interest of the Palestinian people and undercuts global efforts to counter terrorism in the region and beyond."

Price added that "the Assad regime’s outreach to this terrorist organization only reinforces for us its [Hamas'] isolation."

Damascus-Hamas reconciliation meeting

On Wednesday, Hamas deputy political leader Khalil Al-Hayya said from the Syrian capital Damascus, that the meeting between Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the Hamas delegation to Syria saw the former pledging support from Syria to the Palestinian people and resistance.

"We declared to President Al-Assad that we support Syria, its sovereignty, and territorial integrity and that we are against any aggression targeting Syrian soil," the Hamas deputy leader added. 

"Hamas is resuming its relationship with our dear Syria. And this is a unanimous decision taken by Hamas' leadership. It was taken with the conviction that this is the right path and that we need to move on from the past," Al-Hayya explained.

The deputy political leader's words mark a new era for the Axis of Resistance, one that sees more unity among the parties to the anti-imperialist axis.

Moreover, in a statement following the meeting, the factions affirmed that Al-Assad stressed that the unity of the Palestinian ranks is the guarantee for restoring the rights of the Palestinian people.

In the same context, the Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, Talal Naji, expressed the Front's happiness with the restoration of relations between Syria and Hamas.

Read more: Hamas stands with Syria in the face of Israeli aggression