Hamas turns against Syrian Regime

25.02.2012

The Islamist militant group Hamas has publicly voiced support for the Syrian uprising aimed at overthrowing the group’s longtime ally, President Bashar Assad, Reuters reports. The Syrian regime is thus losing one of its few remaining Sunni Muslim supporters in the Arab world. Syrian-backed Hamas has been equivocating on the issue since the anti-government protests started in Syria last March. "I salute all the nations of the Arab Spring and I salute the heroic people of Syria, who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said speaking at  the al-Azhar Mosque in the Egyptian capital.