Two senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials arrested in Damascus Following Mahmoud Abbas’s visit

Damascus authorities have arrested two high-ranking members of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, marking the first such detention of Palestinian political figures by Syria’s new leadership.

According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Khaled Khaled, the head of Islamic Jihad’s operations in Syria, and Abu Ali Yasser, who chairs the group’s organisational committee, were detained in Damascus.

The arrests reportedly occurred less than 48 hours after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited the Syrian capital for talks with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The timing of the arrests has drawn attention due to the political backdrop. While no official link has been made, observers point to the proximity of Abbas’s visit and the detentions as potentially significant.

Islamic Jihad has long maintained a presence in Syria. Its facilities in Damascus have been targeted multiple times by Israeli airstrikes, including a strike on March 13, when Israel hit the residence of Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the group’s Secretary-General, in the Dummar district in northern Damascus.

Over 13 Palestinian factions are currently active in Syria. This incident marks the first known instance of Palestinian leaders being detained under the current Syrian government.

Islamic Jihad was among the few Palestinian factions that chose to remain in Syria following the fall of the previous regime. The group notably did not align itself with the former government or engage in the conflict on its behalf, unlike other factions that left the country during the civil war.

By Tamilla Hasanova