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Palestinian Faction Chiefs Supported by Iran Quit Damascus

A boy walks under Palestinian and Syrian flags hanging outside buildings damaged during Syria's 14-year civil war in the Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
A boy walks under Palestinian and Syrian flags hanging outside buildings damaged during Syria's 14-year civil war in the Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
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Palestinian Faction Chiefs Supported by Iran Quit Damascus

A boy walks under Palestinian and Syrian flags hanging outside buildings damaged during Syria's 14-year civil war in the Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
A boy walks under Palestinian and Syrian flags hanging outside buildings damaged during Syria's 14-year civil war in the Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

The leaders of pro-Iran Palestinian factions close to former ruler Bashar al-Assad have left Syria under pressure from the new authorities, Palestinian sources said Friday, a key US demand for lifting sanctions.
A pro-Iran Palestinian faction leader who left Syria after Assad's December overthrow said on condition of anonymity that "most of the Palestinian factional leadership that received support from Tehran has left Damascus" to countries including Lebanon, while another still based there confirmed the development.

"The factions have fully handed over weapons in their headquarters or with their cadres" to the authorities, who also received "lists of names of faction members possessing individual weapons" and demanded that those arms be handed over, the first added.

A third Palestinian faction source in Damascus said that after Assad's overthrow, "we gathered our members' weapons ourselves and handed them over, but we have kept individual light weapons for protection... with the (authorities') authorization".

In the Yarmuk Palestinian camp in the Damascus suburbs which was devastated during the war, factional banners usually at the entrance were gone and party buildings were closed and unguarded, AFP photographers said. Factional premises elsewhere in Damascus also appeared closed.

'No cooperation'
Many Palestinians fled to Syria in 1948 following the creation of Israel, and from the mid-1960s Syria began hosting the leadership of Palestinian factions.

Pro-Iran Palestinian factions had enjoyed considerable freedom of movement under Assad.

Washington last week announced it was lifting sanctions on Syria after earlier saying Damascus needed to respond to demands including suppressing "terrorism" and preventing "Iran and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory".

According to the White House, during a meeting in Saudi Arabia last week, US President Donald Trump gave new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa a list of demands that included deporting Palestinian factions.

The factions along with groups from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen are part of the Iran-backed "axis of resistance" against Israel, some of which fought alongside Assad's forces after civil war erupted in 2011.

In neighboring Lebanon, a government official told AFP that the disarmament of Palestinian camps, where factions usually handle security, would begin next month based on an accord with visiting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Sharaa's opposition group led the offensive that ousted Assad, a close ally of Iran.

Last month, Sharaa met Abbas on a visit to Damascus.

The factions "did not receive any official request from the authorities to leave Syrian territory" but instead faced restrictions, the first Palestinian factional leader said, noting that some factions "were de facto prohibited from operating" or their members were arrested.

'Unwelcome'
The new authorities have seized property from "private homes, offices, vehicles and military training camps in the Damascus countryside and other provinces", he said.

The Syrian authorities did not immediately provide comment to AFP when asked about the matter.

Earlier this month, officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said Syrian authorities briefly detained factional chief Talal Naji.

In April, the Al-Quds Brigades said Islamic Jihad's Syria official Khaled Khaled and organizing committee member Yasser al-Zafri had been detained "without explanation".

The second Palestinian official, from a group that has remained in Damascus with limited representation, said there was "no cooperation between most of the Palestinian factions and the new Syrian administration".

"The response to our contact is mostly cold or delayed. We feel like unwelcome guests, though they don't say that clearly," he added, also requesting anonymity.

The Fatah movement and militant group Hamas appear to be unaffected.

A Hamas official in Gaza told AFP that it had "channels of communication with our brothers in Syria".

Hamas left after the civil war began as ties with the government deteriorated amid the Palestinian group's support for opposition demands, and has minimal representation there.

Yarmuk camp resident Marwan Mnawar, a retiree, said that "nobody knows what happened to the factional leadership", adding that "people just want to live, they are exhausted" by the conflict and factional infighting.

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Arab World

Türkiye Sees Deal between Syria, Kurdish Forces as ‘Historic Turning Point’

A group of civilians smash a statue of a Syrian Democratic Forces fighter in the city of Tabqa after the Syrian army took control of it, in Tabqa, Syria, January 18, 2026. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A group of civilians smash a statue of a Syrian Democratic Forces fighter in the city of Tabqa after the Syrian army took control of it, in Tabqa, Syria, January 18, 2026. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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Türkiye Sees Deal between Syria, Kurdish Forces as ‘Historic Turning Point’

A group of civilians smash a statue of a Syrian Democratic Forces fighter in the city of Tabqa after the Syrian army took control of it, in Tabqa, Syria, January 18, 2026. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A group of civilians smash a statue of a Syrian Democratic Forces fighter in the city of Tabqa after the Syrian army took control of it, in Tabqa, Syria, January 18, 2026. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Türkiye sees an integration deal between Syria's government and Kurdish forces there as an "historic turning point", ahead of which the Turkish intelligence agency played an intensive role to ensure restraint by parties involved, Turkish security sources said on Monday.

Türkiye, a strong supporter of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, sees the deal ‌as critical ‌to restoring state authority across ‌Syria ⁠and to ‌its own goal of eliminating terrorism at home, including advancing its long-running efforts toward securing peace with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the sources said.

Ankara is the strongest foreign backer of the administration in neighboring Damascus ⁠and had threatened its own military operation against the ‌Syrian Kurdish Democratic Forces (SDF) in the ‍north if the ‍group did not agree to come under ‍central government control, Reuters said.

On Sunday, Syria and the SDF struck a wide-ranging deal to integrate the Kurdish civilian and military authorities, ending days of fighting in which Syrian troops captured territory including key oil fields.

The Turkish security ⁠sources said the fight against ISIS group in Syria would continue uninterrupted despite the agreement.

Türkiye's intelligence agency MIT had been in dialogue with the United States - which mediated the Sunday agreement - and the Syrian government ahead of the deal, the sources said. MIT also maintained intensive contacts to ensure restraint among parties, including protecting civilians and critical infrastructure, in ‌Syria in the run-up to the deal, they added.

Arab World

Syrian Army Deploys in Deir Ezzor Province After Kurdish Withdrawal

A military vehicle of the Syrian army is parked on the highway near Tabqa, after the Syrian army took control of it, Syria, January 19, 2026. (Reuters)
A military vehicle of the Syrian army is parked on the highway near Tabqa, after the Syrian army took control of it, Syria, January 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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Syrian Army Deploys in Deir Ezzor Province After Kurdish Withdrawal

A military vehicle of the Syrian army is parked on the highway near Tabqa, after the Syrian army took control of it, Syria, January 19, 2026. (Reuters)
A military vehicle of the Syrian army is parked on the highway near Tabqa, after the Syrian army took control of it, Syria, January 19, 2026. (Reuters)

Syria's army on Monday deployed its forces in parts of the eastern Deir Ezzor province formerly controlled by Kurdish forces following their withdrawal from the area.

After two days of rapid gains in Kurdish-controlled territory, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced on Sunday a deal with their leader Mazloum Abdi that includes a ceasefire and the integration of the Kurdish administration and forces into the central state.

The government push captured Arab-majority areas that came under Kurdish control during the fight against the ISIS group.

In Deir Ezzor, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of military vehicles heading to the east of the Euphrates river, which once separated Damascus-controlled areas to the west from the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to the east.

Lines of cars, trucks and motorcycles formed in front of a small bridge leading to the eastern bank.

Some people were also heading there on foot.

"Our joy over liberation is indescribable," Mohammed Khalil, a 50-year-old driver in Deir Ezzor, told AFP.

"We hope things will be better than before. There was... no freedom under the SDF."

Safia Keddo, a 49-year-old teacher, told AFP "the past few years, but today we must turn the page".

"We want children to return to school without fear, and for electricity, water, and bread to be restored. We're not asking for a miracle; we just want stability and a normal life."

The Syrian army said in a statement that it "started the deployment" into the eastern Jazira region "to secure it under the agreement between the Syrian state and the SDF".

The agreement calls for the immediate handover of the provinces of the Arab-majority Raqqa and Deir Ezzor provinces.

The SDF had announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing from areas under its control in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, including the Al-Omar and Tanak oil fields.

The SDF had taken control of part of Deir Ezzor after defeating the ISIS group with the support of an international coalition led by the United States.

Arab World

Qassem's Threat of Civil War Widely Condemned in Lebanon

Hezbollah's then deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, July 2, 2024. (AP)
Hezbollah's then deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, July 2, 2024. (AP)
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Qassem's Threat of Civil War Widely Condemned in Lebanon

Hezbollah's then deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, July 2, 2024. (AP)
Hezbollah's then deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, July 2, 2024. (AP)

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem's continued refusal to lay down his party's weapons in defiance of the state have sparked outrage in Lebanon.

In a televised address on Saturday, Qassem declared that Hezbollah "will not surrender", accusing Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi of "undermining civil peace and inciting strife." He also called on the government to replace the minister.

Ministerial sources close to the presidency told Asharq Al-Awsat that some of Qassem's remarks were viewed as a response to President Joseph Aoun's recent statements in which he indirectly called on the Iran-backed party to "return to reason and the state and hand over its weapons that have become a burden on its community and Lebanon."

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that official "decisions were taken to be implemented. Nothing will change the president's convictions."

Qassem escalated his rhetoric to save face in front of Hezbollah supporters, they added, ruling out the possibility that the party would take its objections to the streets.

The process of imposing state monopoly over arms is on the right path, they stressed.

Meanwhile, officials expressed their outrage over Qassem's remarks.

In a post on the X platform, Justice Minister Adel Nassar said: "Those threatening civil war to preserve their weapons must cease giving lectures about patriotism to a minister in government."

Lebanese Forces MP Razi al-Hajj slammed Hezbollah as a "calamity" on Lebanon. In a post on X, he said: "Naim Qassem is working outside the state, manipulating civil peace, inciting strife and standing against the presidency, government and will of the Lebanese people."

"He refuses to hand over Hezbollah's weapons and makes threats of civil war. Day and night he attacks the Lebanese state's official positions and works against them. Hezbollah is Lebanon's real calamity," he remarked.

LF MP Ghayath Yazbeck slammed Qassem for "verbally" and "morally" assaulting LF ministers, "in complete disregard of ethical principles".

He warned that Qassem’s remarks may be a prelude to the assassination of the ministers and "the assassination of the Lebanese state."

"Our ministers represent dignity, sovereignty and the state," he stressed. Indirectly addressing Qassem, he said: "Act smart. Your predecessors made these mistakes and ended up in history’s trash bin. Haven’t you learned anything?"

Responding to Qassem, Kataeb MP Nadim Gemayel said: "The foreign minister's stance is based on the humiliating agreement that you signed after the 'support war'. Lebanon officially agreed to the deal that effectively embodies the president's swearing in oath and government's policy statement in terms of imposing state monopoly over arms across the country."

In a post on X, he hoped the president and prime minister would issue a clear stance in support of FM Raggi.

Addressing Qassem, LF MP Elias Hankach said on X: "By continuing to rebel against state decisions and threaten the Lebanese people, you have become an outlaw gang."

"Just as the army imposed state monopoly over arms south of the Litani River, it will soon do so to its north," he said.

MP Waddah Sadek slammed Qassem, saying on X: "He himself does not believe what he is saying... He is living in a parallel world while the state continues to firmly reclaim its institutions regardless of the critics."

"The only thing Qassem got right was that Lebanon has indeed entered a new phase," he noted. Addressing the Hezbollah leader, he added: "Your weapons are a burden and no longer serve a purpose."

"For years, we have listened to your speeches and endured defeats and destruction that you brought onto the country. Yours is just another speech that won't make a difference," he stated.

MP Fuad Makhzoumi expressed his rejection of Qassem's statements, saying he is "detached from reality" and posing a "frank challenge to the state and its institutions."

In a post on X, he wrote: "You are part of the government, so how can you object to decisions you were a partner to? Whoever objects to government decisions must resign, not defy the state from the inside."

He urged Hezbollah to commit to the ceasefire, United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, and hand over its weapons, otherwise face the responsibility of violating state decisions.

"No one is above the law in Lebanon and threats have only led to destruction that the Lebanese people alone have paid the price of," he added.