Reports in Arabic media said that two Palestinian leaders were detained in Damascus by members of the security forces of the new Syrian government.
This comes as the Syrian government continues to crack down on lawlessness and threats. It has also intercepted a shipment of Iranian-made rockets and weapons recently, and confiscated weapons from villages.
Sky News Arabia reported that, “for the first time... two Palestinian leaders arrested in Damascus.” The reports emerged on April 21 as rumors that Damascus had detained members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
PIJ is backed by Iran and was involved in the October 7 attack. It has forces in Gaza and also in the northern West Bank, particularly in Jenin. It has been increasing its threats to Israel in recent years. PIJ leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, as well as other key members of the group, had been based in Damascus under the Assad regime. It was not clear if they remained after Bashar al-Assad fell from power on December 8.
The reports at Sky News Arabia and also other publications such as Asharq al-Awsat, were not confirmed by the government in Damascus. The new government of Ahmed al-Sharaa is disliked by Iran and Hezbollah.
“Palestinian sources in Damascus revealed that Syrian security forces arrested two Palestinian leaders on Sunday night,” Sky News Arabia said. “The sources told the German Press Agency (DPA) that ‘Syrian security forces arrested Khaled Khaled, the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in Syria, and Abu Ali Yasser, the head of the organizing committee for the Syrian arena, in Damascus.’”
Arrest comes 48 hours after Abbas's visit
The report went on to say that the sources confirmed that Khaled’s arrest came less than 48 hours after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s visit to Damascus and his meeting with Syrian President Sharaa. The sources revealed a large movement by Palestinian and Arab leaders inside and outside Syria to release the Palestinian leader. Syrian media reported that Khaled and Yasser were accused of “collaborating with Iran.”
The report said PIJ had not left Syria after December 8. “Several Islamic Jihad headquarters in Damascus have been subjected to repeated Israeli strikes, the most recent of which occurred on March 13, when the home of the movement’s secretary-general, Ziad al-Nakhalah, was hit by an Israeli missile strike in the Dumar neighborhood, north of Damascus.”
The report said this is the first time “a Palestinian leader has been arrested in Syria, where more than 13 Palestinian factions are present, some of whom have left Damascus.”
RT in Arabic appeared to confirm the story. “The Saraya al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, issued an urgent appeal to the Syrian government to release two of its leaders who have been detained for five days,” the report said. “The Brigades identified the two detained leaders as Commander Khaled Khaled, responsible for the Syrian arena, and Commander Yasser al-Zafari, head of the organizational committee. They noted that the arrests were carried out without providing any clear reasons.”
In its statement, the organization recalled “Syria’s history of struggle in support of the Palestinian cause... Syria has always been a haven for loyal and free people who defended the nation against occupiers and tyrants.”
The statement also said: “While the al-Quds Brigades have continued to fight against Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip for more than a year and a half, its weapons have been directed only at the Zionist enemy, and our martyrs from the Syrian arena have fallen on the borders of occupied Palestine.”
Al-Quds daily, a Palestinian publication, also reported on the arrests, repeating the Sky News Arabia report. The New Arab said the arrests appear linked to the Trump administration’s demand that Syria crack down on these types of extremist groups to get any sanctions relief.
Syrian officials have said they intend to travel to the US soon. Two US congressmen recently arrived in Damascus for meetings. The overall role of Khaled in PIJ was not clear in the wake of his arrest.