Hamas retains politburo in Syria, withdraws admin

Hamas has begun withdrawing its administrative staff from Syria, but will retain its politburo in Damascus, a senior Hamas official said.

The official sought to clarify the status of Hamas' headquarters in Damascus after a Wall Street Journal article on Wednesday claimed the Palestinian Islamist party was relocating to Egypt and Qatar.

The source said only the administrative staff are moving, while the politburo will remain in Syria.

Approximately 200 administrative staff from the movement have already been transferred to Lebanon and Gaza, the source, wishing to remain anonymous, told Al-Akhbar.

The Hamas source confirmed a report in Al-Akhbar on Thursday that said the Palestinian Islamist party’s administrative work in Damascus had been disrupted due to the crisis in the country.

He said that the staff departure was “natural, as the situation in the country is tense and has hindered the movement of administrative personnel.”

Hamas’ administrative staff “have not been able to work as they normally would,” he added.

Despite the administrative staff’s departure, there are no plans to relocate the politburo.

“The political leadership will remain in Damascus, as for the administrative staff they will go, because the security situation is unsettled and therefore we have sent them and their families out of the country,” he said.

The aim of the move is to enable the administrative staff to resume their work as normal, the official explained.

The source dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that Turkey and Qatar pressured Hamas to move its headquarters out of Syria, saying that Hamas had "not received or heard such words."

Such talk was mere speculation, the Hamas official added, pointing to a recent request by Hamas to open “a branch office in Egypt after the revolution.”

There was no request, however, to move the entire politburo to Egypt, he added.

“Everyone knows a branch office is not the same as the politburo.”

Asked about Hamas’ position on the Syrian crisis, the official stressed the importance of “developing a political solution based on dialogue and reforms.”

Damascus-based Hamas leader, Khaled Mishal, is to visit Jordan to “improve relations between Hamas and the Jordanian kingdom after Qatari mediation,” the official said.

Jordan hosted Hamas until it expelled the movement in the 1990s, relocating its headquarters to Syria, where it remains today.

(Al-Akhbar)