Shallah was one of the Hamas leaders staying in Damascus

By Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Staff

CAIRO, May 28 (IslamOnline.net) - The Syrian authorities have shut down offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two Palestinian resistance movements the U.S. has earlier asked Damascus for their ouster, informed Palestinian sources said on Wednesday, May 28.

“The officials of both groups moved to Qatar, others to Lebanon where they were hosted by Hizbullah,” the sources told IslamOnline.net.

Of the prominent members of the two groups who were staying in Damascus were Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal and Islamic Jihad secretary general Ramadan Shallah.

The United States had earlier also demanded that Syria "dismantle" the Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah, a Shiite group that played a key role in ending the more than 20 years Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in May, 2000.

“The Syrian authorities secretary issued a decision calling on other Palestinian factions in the country to stop any contacts with the media and stop carrying out any political activities there,” the sources added.

It is “a step to ease differences with Washington,” after the Americans excluded Syria from attending a summit between U.S. President George W. Bush and Arab leaders.

“The Syrian decision has come with the European Union pressures to convince the U.S. into allowing Syria and Lebanon, to join the expected meeting, as parts of their land are still occupied by the U.S.-ally,” added the sources, referring to Israel which still occupies Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms and Syria’s strategic Golan Heights.

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

U.S. President George W. Bush said in April 2003 that he is “confident the Syrian government has heard us, and I believe it when they say they want to cooperate with us."

Hawks in the U.S. administration have prepared the ground for an attack on Syria by alleging that Syria harbors the remnants of the Iraqi regime.

U.S. Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld charged that senior Iraqi leaders were fleeing to Syria, which he claimed was continuing to send military assistance into Iraq.

Syria, for its part, frequently rejected the U.S. accusations as unfounded, arguing that the Bush administration wanted to exaggerate matters concerning the Middle East to show that the security of the United States was really in danger.  

Arab Pressures

Meanwhile, some Arab countries are pressuring Islamic resistance movement Hamas into accepting a ceasefire with Israeli occupation forces, the sources told IOL.

They named these countries as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar.

The resistance movement failed to agree the ceasefire in their January 2003 meeting in Cairo.