Latest news with #TalalNaji
The National
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Syria expels top figure among pro-Iranian remnants
Syria has expelled a radical Palestinian leader, officials said on Sunday, in the latest move against pro- Iran remnants as the US enters the war in the Middle East. Talal Naji, who heads the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), was ordered to leave Syria in the past two weeks after being briefly incarcerated, sources said. They did not say where he went, citing security concerns. 'A political decision was taken to remove him,' said a Syrian security official who requested anonymity. Syria, a base for an array of Palestinian factions before the downfall of the Bashar Al Assad regime last year, is looking to use the current Iran-Israel war to its advantage. Washington entered the conflict on Sunday by bombing Iranian nuclear infrastructure. Chief among Syria's goals are accelerating establishing ties with the US and western assistance for recovery. US President Donald Trump asked Syrian leader Ahmad Al Shara in a breakthrough meeting last month to curb militants in the country and join the Abraham Accords with Israel. Mr Al Shara, a former rebel fighter, commands Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a group once linked with Al Qaeda that has been in power since ousting the Iranian and Russian-backed Assad regime in December. Mr Al Shara has expressed support for the Palestinian cause without the anti- Israeli rhetoric of the former regime. He said in March that Israel and Syria were engaged in indirect talks to prevent military escalation, after Israeli forces made incursions into the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. A Palestinian security official confirmed to The National from Ramallah that Mr Naji, a political foe of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, had left Syria. 'They couldn't keep such a figure in jail while Israel keeps attacking Gaza. It would just help pile accusations against them that they are traitors,' the official said. Mr Naji is almost 80 and lost an eye in a bomb explosion many years ago. He is married to a relative of Asma Al Assad, the former Syrian president's wife. The PFLP-GC was one of several groups supported by Tehran that attacked Israeli targets with rockets and drones in the last year of Mr Al Assad's rule. When the Syrian revolt started in 2011, the PFLP-GC acted as the regime's enforcer in Syria's Palestinian refugee camps, crushing protests. Mr Naji also recruited hundreds of Palestinians into a militia that was called Jerusalem Brigades, which fought on Mr Al Assad's side during the civil war. Support for radical Palestinian groups was a reason behind US sanctions on Syria, which started in 1979 and were toughened after the 2011 revolt. Mr Trump decided to remove most of the sanctions last month. PFLP-GC positions were targets of Israeli attacks on Syria in 2023 and 2024. The country was a conduit for weapons and supplies to Hezbollah, as well as launch pad for attacks by Iranian proxies against the Israeli military. The new Syrian authorities had closed all the facilities belonging to Palestinian factions. In recent weeks, they allowed the Fatah faction of Mr Abbas to reopen some of its offices, the sources said. Smaller factions and splinter groups opposed to Mr Abbas were also based in Syria. Among them were the Palestinian Liberation Front, Fatah Al Intifada, and the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front. Most of their cadres fled, or were allowed to leave to Jordan, Lebanon and possibly Iran after the ouster of Mr Al Assad, according to the sources. Syria's Ba'ath Party also established in the 1960s a Palestinian militia called Storm Troops, which took Mr Al Assad's side in the civil war.
Arab News
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Syria briefly detains head of Palestinian group: faction officials
DAMASCUS: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command officials said Syrian Arab Republic authorities on Saturday briefly detained the head of the faction, which was close to ousted ruler Bashar Assad's government. Talal Naji's detention came just weeks after Palestinian group Islamic Jihad's armed wing said the new authorities had held two of its officials on unspecified charges. The United States, which considers Palestinian factions including the PFLP-GC to be 'terrorist' organizations, has said Washington will not ease Assad-era sanctions on Syria until it has verified progress on priorities including acting against 'terrorism.' An official from the Damascus-based PFLP-GC, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive, told AFP that 'secretary-general Talal Naji was arrested' in the city. Another official confirmed the arrest, while a third faction source said 'Naji was asked... to report to one of the security branches and has not returned. Most likely he was arrested.' Two PFLP-GC officials later confirmed Naji had been released, with one saying he was held for 10 hours and freed after 'local and international mediation.' The official said it remained unclear why he had been arrested. The second source confirmed Naji's release, saying: 'He's at home and in good health.' Last month, a statement from the Al-Quds Brigades said Islamic Jihad's Syria official Khaled Khaled and organizing committee member Yasser Al-Zafri had been detained for days 'without explanation.' The Iran-backed group expressed hope 'that our brothers in the Syrian government' will free the pair, noting their detention comes as the group is 'fighting the Zionist enemy' in the Gaza Strip. In late March, US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Syria's 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.' The PFLP-GC was founded in 1968 after breaking away from the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. When conflict erupted in Syria in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful pro-democracy protests, the PFLP-GC stood firmly by Assad's government. After militants and rebels overran parts of the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus in 2012, the PFLP-GC's armed wing fought alongside Syrian government forces to take it back. The group is designated as a 'terrorist organization' by the United States and European Union and is accused of masterminding the deadly bombing of Swissair Flight SR330 in February 1970, as well as several attacks on Israeli civilians.
LBCI
03-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Syria detains head of Palestinian group based in Damascus: Faction officials
Officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said Syrian authorities on Saturday detained the head of the faction, which was close to ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad's government. An official from the Damascus-based faction, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive, told AFP that "secretary-general Talal Naji was arrested" in the capital. A second official confirmed the arrest, while a third source from the faction said "Naji was asked... to report to one of the security branches and has not returned. Most likely he was arrested." AFP
Shafaq News
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Hours in custody: Syria briefly detains PFLP-GC Secretary-General
Shafaq News/ Syrian authorities briefly detained Talal Naji, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), on Saturday before releasing him hours later, a senior Palestinian official told Al-Mayadeen. Earlier in the day, Syrian media reported that General Security forces had arrested Naji along with his chief of staff in Damascus. No official statement has been issued by the Syrian government. The PFLP-GC, a splinter faction from the original Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has operated out of Syria since its founding in 1968. The group supported former President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war. Naji's brief detention is the latest in a series of arrests targeting Palestinian factions operating in Syria. In April, security forces detained two senior officials from Palestinian Islamic Jihad — Khaled Khaled and Abu Ali Yasser — shortly after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited Damascus for talks with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. At the time, Syrian media reported that the detainees were suspected of collaborating with Iran.
Toronto Star
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Syria detains Damascus-based leader of prominent Palestinian faction
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria on Saturday detained a prominent Damascus-based Palestinian official whose group was close to the government of ousted president Bashar Assad. Talal Naji, 79, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, or PFLP-GC, was detained Saturday morning shortly after he left his house with a driver and two guards, a Palestinian official told The Associated Press.
