The new Syrian transitional government has been harassing Palestinian factions in Syria, causing them to pack their bags and leave. Numerous Palestinian terrorist groups, as well as other groups, have operated from Damascus for decades. These have included Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), and others. Members of Hamas were also once hosted by Damascus.
On May 3, reports said that officials in Damascus had detained Talal Naji, the head of the PFLP-GC. In late April, the new authorities also detained members of Islamic Jihad. These moves are seen as a way for Syria to crack down on pro-Iranian groups, because the Palestinian terror groups are often pro-Iranian. Iran backed the Assad regime, and Assad backed these Palestinian groups.
The new government, Ahmed al-Sharaa, also wants to show it can crack down on terror groups as part of its outreach to the US and the West. US President Donald Trump met Sharaa in Riyadh in mid-May, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently spoke about the importance of engaging Syria.
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack is now the US Special Envoy for Syria. He wrote on May 23, “The cessation of sanctions against Syria will preserve the integrity of our primary objective — the enduring defeat of ISIS — and will give the people of Syria a chance for a better future. In this way, we, together with regional partners including Turkiye and the Gulf, are enabling the Syrian government to restore peace, security, and the hope of prosperity. In the words of the President, we will work together, and we will succeed together.”
Now, Palestinian sources have said that “leaders of Palestinian factions in Syria, who were close to the former regime and supported by Tehran, left Damascus after the new authorities harassed them and confiscated their property,” according to Al-Arabiya.
"The factions have fully handed over weapons in their headquarters…[and given authorities] lists of names of faction members possessing individual weapons,” a source said, according to France24. “We gathered our members' weapons ourselves and handed them over, but we have kept individual light weapons for protection... with the (authorities') authorization,” another source said.
“In the Yarmuk Palestinian camp in the Damascus suburbs, which was devastated during the war, factional banners usually at the entrance were gone, and party buildings were closed and unguarded,” France24 said. Damascus has also moved to seize properties and training sites of the groups.
The New Arab noted that “two Palestinian sources told news agency AFP Friday the leaders of pro-Iran Palestinian factions who were close to former Tehran-backed ruler Bashar al-Assad have left Syria under pressure from the new authorities.”
It added that “those who have left include Khaled Jibril, son of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) founder Ahmad Jibril, as well as Palestinian Popular Struggle Front secretary-general Khaled Abdel Majid and Fatah al-Intifada secretary-general Ziad al-Saghir.”
The factions include those backed by Hamas, but many specifics were not clear. "Most of the leaders of the Palestinian factions that received support from Tehran have left Damascus,” the source said to AFP.
They may have gone to Lebanon. In April, the Syrian security forces had arrested Khaled Khaled, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, as well as Abu Ali Yasser (Yasser al-Zafari), the head of the organizing committee for the Syrian arena for PIJ. PIJ leader Ziad al-Nakhalah had maintained a house in the Dumar neighborhood north of Damascus. It was hit with an airstrike in March, Al-Arabiya noted.
Al-Ain media noted that US President Donald Trump called on his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during their meeting in Riyadh last week to "deport Palestinian terrorists," according to the White House. One Palestinian source said that the groups had not yet received an official request from the authorities to leave Syrian territory. However, the harassment, property confiscation, and detention of some members are sending a message.
Palestinian terror groups in Lebanon are also facing pressure
It comes in accordance with an agreement with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is on an official visit to Lebanon, according to a Lebanese government source.
The source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that "an agreement was reached to begin an executive plan to withdraw weapons from the camps, beginning in mid-June in the Beirut camps, followed by the other camps," during a meeting of a joint committee the two sides announced their formation on Wednesday.
Negotiations await arrangements... Palestinian refugee camps' weapons on Aoun and Abbas's table
Two days ago, Abbas and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun affirmed their commitment to restricting the possession of weapons to the state. This came during the Palestinian president's visit, which aimed to discuss the issue of weapons in the camps, at a time when the Lebanese authorities are seeking to extend their authority over all of their territory.
This is Abbas's first visit to Lebanon since 2017. A report at Al-Ain in the UAE noted that “more than 220,000 Palestinians reside in Lebanon in overcrowded camps under squalid conditions and are barred from working in many sectors of the country.”
A recent statement from Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and Lebanese president Joseph Aoun noted that "the two sides affirm their commitment to the principle of the exclusive possession of arms by the Lebanese state and to ending any manifestations that contravene the logic of the Lebanese state.
They also emphasize the importance of respecting Lebanon's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity." The era of weapons in the hands of armed groups in Lebanon, such as Hezbollah and Palestinians, may be coming to a close. "The Palestinian weapons in the camps will be one of the issues on the agenda for discussion between President Abbas, the Lebanese president, and the Lebanese government,” the report noted.
A joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee may be formed. Fatah and Hamas are the largest factions in the camps.