Syria Raids Hamas Offices Months After Group’s Leaders Leave
Syria Raids Hamas Offices Months After Group’s Leaders Leave
Syrian security forces have raided and sealed the Damascus office of Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, who left the city months ago along with other leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas said on Wednesday.
Relations between Hamas and long-time ally Syria have soured since Meshaal and other senior officials quietly quit Damascus late last year after President Bashar al-Assad stepped up a crackdown on anti-government protests.
Syria is home to at least 500,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations. Syria’s uprising has split loyalties, with many Palestinians sympathetic to the 19-month-old uprising by their fellow Sunni Muslims, and others backing Assad, whose Alawite faith derives from Shi’ite Islam.
In recent weeks, dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Syrian army shelling of rebel positions in and around the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, opposition campaigners said.