Palestinian Islamic Jihad says Syria detaining two group officials
BEIRUT: Palestinian group Islamic Jihad's armed wing said Tuesday that Syria's new authorities had detained two of the group's officials and called for their release.
A statement from the
Al-Quds Brigades
said Islamic Jihad's Syria official
Khaled Khaled
and organising committee member Yasser al-Zafri had been detained in Syria for five days "without explanation".
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The statement from the Iran-backed group expressed hope "that our brothers in the Syrian government" would release the pair, noting their detention comes as the group is "fighting the Zionist enemy" in the
Gaza Strip
.
Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas that has fought alongside the Palestinian militant group in Gaza, is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the European Union and the United States.
After Islamist-led forces ousted longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Islamic Jihad secretary-general Jihad al-Nakhalah expressed hope that the country would "remain a true supporter and backer of the Palestinian people and their just cause, as it has always been".
Assad's government was a close ally of Tehran and Lebanon's Hezbollah group, and was part of the so-called axis of resistance against Israel in the region.
Last month, Israel's military said it had struck an Islamic Jihad command centre in Damascus that was used to "plan and direct terrorist activities" against Israel.
The United States last month said it would not ease Assad-era sanctions on Syria until it had verified the new authorities' progress on key issues.
US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the new authorities should "fully renounce and suppress terrorism, exclude foreign terrorist fighters from any official roles (and) prevent Iran and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory".
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