The Palestinian movement Hamas said Wednesday it had restored ties with the Syrian government after a visiting delegation held a “historic meeting” with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.

The Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip has long been one of Syria’s closest allies, in large part due to a shared hostility towards Israel.

But she left Syria in 2012 after condemning the Assad government’s brutal crackdown on protests in March 2011, which sparked the country’s slide into civil war.

“This is a glorious and important day as we return to our beloved Syria to resume work together,” Hamas head of Arab relations Khalil al-Hayya told reporters in Damascus.

“This is a new beginning for joint Palestinian-Syrian action,” he said after meeting Assad along with other representatives of Palestinian factions.

Hamas and Assad have agreed to “step away from the past and look to the future,” al-Hayya added.

By restoring ties with Damascus, Hamas is cementing its role within the “axis of resistance” against its nemesis Israel, analysts said, an Iran-dominated alliance that extends to the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen .

Hamas’ move formalizes a rapprochement that has been underway for some time and comes amid fundamental shifts in relations in the Middle East, including the restoration of full diplomatic ties by the Islamists’ longtime ally Turkey with Israel in August.

Wednesday’s meeting with Assad “is consistent with the broader rapprochement between Hezbollah and Hamas seen in Lebanon for at least a year,” said Maha Yahya of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Al-Hayya said there was consensus among Hamas leaders and supporters on resuming ties with Syria – a move also backed by the Palestinian group’s foreign sponsors.

“All states that we informed of our decision welcomed and supported the move, including Qatar and Turkey, who encouraged us to take the step,” al-Hayya said.

Turkey supports rebels against the Damascus government in the civil war in Syria, but has recently signaled a willingness to reconcile.

The two-day Hamas visit to Syria comes after the Islamist group signed a reconciliation deal with its Palestinian rival Fatah in Algiers last week and vowed to hold elections by next October to end a 15-year internal Palestinian rift.

Analysts say Hamas’ recent moves come in response to the Arab governments — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco — normalizing ties with Israel in recent years.

A Hamas leader told AFP that the group, which was headquartered in the Syrian capital before leaving the country, plans to reopen its office in Damascus.

But it is “too early” to talk about moving the headquarters to the Syrian capital, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The thaw between Hamas and Damascus was brokered by Tehran and Hezbollah, a senior Hamas source said.

For the past decade, Syrian officials have accused Hamas of treason.

In a 2013 speech, Assad had accused Palestinian groups, whom he did not identify, of treating the country like a “hotel” that they leave “when conditions are difficult,” in a thinly veiled reference to Hamas.

Hamas has its origins in the transnational Muslim Brotherhood, whose Syrian branch was one of the leading factions of the armed opposition after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.

Hamas officials said they cut ties with the Brotherhood in 2017.