HAMAS

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad congratulated Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on the Islamist movement's "victory" over Israel in Gaza at a meeting in Damascus on Saturday, official media said.

Assad "congratulated the Palestinian people on the victory scored by the resistance in the Gaza Strip," the official SANA news agency said.

"Israel's inability to achieve its objectives despite using the deadliest of weaponry is proof of the devotion of the Palestinian people to its territorial rights and its deep belief in victory against occupation and aggression," it quoted Assad as saying.

Meshaal and his delegation responded by expressing their "deep appreciation of Syria for its efforts at all levels to support the resistance of the Palestinian people in Gaza during and after the Israeli aggression."

The Hamas delegation is to set off on a regional tour to "thank certain countries which have supported the Palestinian people," SANA added.

Syria provides a base in exile for Hamas's political leadership, including Meshaal.

The Islamist group has controlled Gaza since June 2007 when it ousted forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Both Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires last Sunday in their 22-day conflict in Gaza.

More than 1,330 Palestinians were killed in the war, nearly a third of them children, and vast swathes of Gaza left in ruins.

(This news from HAMAS, January 25, 2009)