Damascus - The Damascus-based Palestinian Islamic resistance
group Hamas on Monday denied Arab media reports claiming that its
leadership was moving to Sudan.
'Media reports that Hamas' politburo chief, Khaled Meshaal, and
other members will move to Sudan are false,' according to a Damascus-
based Hamas official who spoke to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on
condition of anonymity.
Earlier, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai quoted what it described as
well-informed Palestinian sources as saying that exiled Hamas leader
Meshaal had moved his bureau and his home from Syria to Sudan.
The source also told the Kuwaiti newspaper that 'an agreement was
reached between Meshaal and the Syrian authorities that he would
leave Syrian territory.'
The Hamas official however denied any friction with Syria,
describing relations with the leadership in Damascus as 'strong and
strategic.'
Since Syria started indirect talks with Israel in May after a
nearly eight-year freeze, speculation have been high concerning the
fate of the Damascus-based movement. As a condition of progress, it
was reported, Israel was demanding Damascus cut its relations with
Hamas.
In June, Meshaal told reporters that the indirect talks brokered
by Turkey would not affect relations between his movement and
Damascus.
Meshaal moved to Damascus almost a decade ago after being expelled
from Jordan.
Also based in Damascus are the leadership of the Palestinian group
Islamic Jihad as well as left-wing Palestinian factions the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front
for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
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