Palestine dismisses Israeli minister’s Hamas, Islamic Jihad presence claims in Syria

A Palestinian source in Damascus said that neither Hamas nor Islamic Jihad have a military presence in Syria in an attempt to rebutt an earlier claim by Israel's Foreign Minister.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar claimed last week that both groups were operating in Syria to establish an additional front against Israel while on a work visit to Brussels. Sa'ar also described Syria’s interim government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa as a "Jihadist Islamist terror group," Caliber.Az reports citing Israeli media.

The Palestinian source dismissed the allegations as false, saying they were fabricated by Israel "to cover up its plans regarding Syria after the fall of the Assad regime."

Following Sa'ar's remarks, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that the Israeli Air Force had targeted Syrian regime positions earlier in the week after the new government in Damascus tried to deploy forces in demilitarized zones near Israel’s border. Referring to the Syrian government as a "regime," Katz said they "attempted to staff positions and outposts, and the air force struck and neutralized them."

Katz further reiterated that Israel’s presence in strategic locations in southern Syria would continue "indefinitely" to prevent any influence from the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as other terrorist attacks that could threaten Israel's security. He defended this strategy by vowing not to let "southern Syria [...] become southern Lebanon."

By Nazrin Sadigova