Hamas: We congratulate the Syrian people on their success in achieving their aspirations for freedom and justice

On Monday, the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" congratulated the Syrian people on their "success in achieving their aspirations for freedom and justice" by toppling the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

This came in a statement published by the movement, in which it affirmed its respect for the will of the Syrian people and their political choices.

The statement said, "The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas congratulates the brotherly Syrian people on their success in achieving their aspirations for freedom and justice," calling on all components of the Syrian people "to unite ranks, further national cohesion, and rise above the pains of the past."

He added, "We in the Hamas movement and our Palestinian people stand firmly with the great Syrian people, and we affirm the unity of Syria and the integrity of its territories, and respect for the Syrian people, their will, independence, and political choices.

On Sunday morning, the Syrian opposition factions took control of the capital, Damascus, with the withdrawal of regime forces from public institutions and streets, thus ending a 61-year era of the bloody Baath Party regime and 53 years of rule by the Assad family.

Bashar al-Assad ruled Syria for 24 years since July 2000, succeeding his father Hafez al-Assad (1970-2000). He and his family secretly left the country to his ally Russia, which announced that it would grant them asylum for what it considered "humanitarian reasons."

Hamas condemned "in the strongest terms the repeated brutal aggression of the Zionist occupation against Syrian lands," stressing its categorical rejection of "any Zionist ambitions or plans targeting sisterly Syria, its land and people."

Earlier on Sunday, Israel claimed the collapse of the 1974 separation of forces agreement with Syria, and occupied the Mount Hermon area (Israel calls it the Hermon area) and the buffer zone between the two countries, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. It also bombed weapons depots in southern Syria and the capital, Damascus, "to prevent them from reaching the armed opposition," according to claims published by the Hebrew media.

The Separation of Forces Agreement (Disengagement Agreement) was signed between Israel and Syria on May 31, 1974, and ended the October 6, 1973 War and the period of attrition that followed on the Syrian front.

The agreement stipulated that Israel would withdraw from all areas of Mount Hermon that it had occupied in the October 6, 1973 war, in addition to an area of ​​about 25 square kilometers that included the vicinity of the city of Quneitra and other small areas that had been occupied in the June 5, 1967 war.

Since the June 5, 1967 war, Israel has occupied about 1,200 square kilometers of the total area of ​​the Syrian Golan Heights, which amounts to 1,800 square kilometers, and there is no information available regarding the size of the buffer zone.

Source: Anadolu Agency