For years Syria has supported the Palestinian terrorist organizations and Hezbollah. Syria is home to the headquarters of many such organizations, including the political bureaus of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as other, smaller organizations which operate from Syria. Not only does Syria provide them with political asylum, it gives them military training, and arms and finances them. The organization heads are protected in Syria and the Syrian regime allows them to hold conventions and conferences in government facilities.
Syria also provides political and material support for Hezbollah, which operates in close conjunction with its ally, Iran. The existence of the ties between Syria and Hezbollah was illustrated by the death of Imad Mughniyeh, commander of Hezbollah operations, which occurred in Damascus, the capital of Syria.
In 1979 the United States State Department designated Syria as a terrorist-sponsoring country.