I'm John Batsh, with Bill Rajah, my colleague and co-host.

We're discussing with Foundation for Defense of Democracy's eyes on Syria, Ahmed Shara.

And the report of Hamas was risky enough, but now we have Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Syria.

And in the Palestinian camps, refugee camps that have been there for ages in and around

Damascus.

Ahmed, it would have been difficult for me to imagine it getting worse than Hamas at Beijing,

but it just did.

Now, Pidge did not suffer the same number of casualties, I'm told, in Gaza as Hamas did because it's

decentralized. It has been for quite some time. Where and how have they been in Syria? Were they

always there or did they reinvested after Assad left? What do we know?

So the Palestinian Islamic jihad has maintained the presence in Damascus as its headquarters since the 1990s.

Hafez al-Assad initially welcomed them, and then Bashar al-Assad also welcomed them or

helped them maintain their presence.

And that's how they became part of Iran's axis of resistance.

Compared to Hamas, Pidge maintained a closer relationship to Iran,

despite them being a Sunni organization, of course.

And that relationship with the Assad regime, with Hezbollah, and with Iran, was, I mean,

was solidified by their presence in Damascus, again, because Bashal Assad himself was part

of the access of resistance.

And he helped them maintain that close relationship.

So the Iranians provided them with weapons, with money over the years during the Civil War.

Unlike Hamas, Pidge maintained a relationship with Bashal Assad, again, despite the sectarian differences.

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