Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Hamas, amid threats by the regime of President Bashar
Assad, has withdrawn its entire leadership out of Syria.

Hamas sources said the movement has ordered the entire 15-member
politburo to leave Syria. They said the revolt in Syria has made the country unsafe for its Palestinian wing.

“Low-level Hamas members with Syrian residence can probably stay, but it is now too dangerous for the leadership,” a Hamas source said.

On Feb. 4, the last member of the political bureau left Damascus. He was identified as Imad Al Alami, known as the liaison between the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip and the Islamic network in the West Bank.

For months, Al Alami remained in Damascus in wake of the departure of more than 300 senior Hamas operatives. The sources said most of them, including political bureau members, went to the Gaza Strip while others moved to Egypt and Jordan.

The sources said Al Alami would play a major role in Hamas from the Gaza Strip. They said Al Alami, a former Hamas envoy to Iran, moved to Damascus
in 2008 and became a leading aide of political bureau chief Khaled Masha’al.

Hamas does not expect to return to its headquarters in Damascus under
the Assad regime. The sources reported rising tension when Hamas refused
Assad’s demand to help quell the Sunni revolt in Syria.

In late 2011, Syrian security forces arrested family members of Hamas
leaders, including Masha’al’s daughter. Under pressure from Arab states, the
relatives were released.

  Bashar Assad, Gaza Strip, Imad Al Alami, Khaled Masha’al, Last member of Hamas politburo exits Syria, Sunni revolt, West Bank