Palestinian movement Hamas on Wednesday said it restored relations with the Syrian government after a visiting delegation held a "historic meeting" with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. The Islamist group, which controls the Gaza Strip, was long one of Syria's closest allies, in large part due to a shared enmity towards Israel. But it left Syria in 2012 after condemning the Assad government's brutal suppression of protests in March 2011, which triggered the country's descent into civil war.
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