Gebril said his group was ready to close offices in Damascus to ease pressures on Syria

By Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Staff 

CAIRO, May 8 (IslamOnline.net) – In an effort to ease U.S. pressures on Syria, the Islamic Jihad and Hamas movements froze activities of their offices in Damascus in what is seen as a step towards closing them down, well-kept Palestinian sources told IslamOnline.net Thursday, May 8.

The two Palestinian resistance movements, however, decline to confirm or deny the decision.

“Syria will officially notify the United States on Saturday, May 10, of closing the offices of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad during U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s new visit to the region (to start Saturday),” said the sources, who requested anonymity, in exclusive statements to IOL.

Leaders from the two Palestinian resistance movements declined to confirm or deny the information, arguing it was a “leadership decision.”

The same leaders previously ruled out any intention to close their offices in Damascus, asserting the Syrian unflinching support for the Palestinian resistance.

Still Operating

However, Jihad spokesman in Gaza, Khaled al-Batch, told IslamOnline.net Thursday that the “leadership of the Islamic Jihad is still operating from Damascus.”

“The movement would issue an official statement if it decided to close offices in Damascus,” he stressed.

“The Islamic Jihad does not have official offices, but leadership representatives and spokesmen to help Palestinians in the refugee camps, such as Al-Yarmouk in Syria,” Batch averred.

Well-informed Arab sources downplayed the importance of closing down Hamas and the Islamic Jihad offices in Syria, adding they do not have official offices but rather media-oriented ones that only release and comment on political statements.

“Syria is under intense pressures from the U.S. to take a clear-cut stance regarding the political and media representation of  the two movements in Damascus without banning the presence of their leaders in the Syrian capital,” they told IslamOnline.net.

Speaking to reporters in Damascus Wednesday, May 7, Ahmed Gebril, leader of the Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine (General Command) said his group was ready to close its offices to ease the pressures on Syria.

He made it clear, however, that the Syrian authorities had not officially asked his group to shut down its offices in Syria.

Last month, Secretary General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Nayeef Hawatma told IslamOnline.net that the current American-Zionist pressures on Syria were aimed at bringing to a cessation all forms of support rendered by Syria to Arab movements resisting the Israeli occupation.

The United States had also demanded that Syria "dismantle" the Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah.