Abu-Marzouk responds to Assad's accusations against Hamas

Senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu-Marzouk responded to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s accusations against Hamas’s top leader Khaled Meshaal, saying that, “it is unethical for Meshaal or Hamas to be opportunists.”

Writing on his Facebook page, Abu-Marzouk said: “As witness from the stage when Hamas was in Syria and an attendant for most or all the meetings with Assad, understanding, love and responsibility were prevailing all the time.”

He reiterated that Hamas would not accept any “unethical” act of its members against the state of Syria “if that happened.”

Abu-Marzouk said that Meshaal had taken the side of Assad, not the Muslim Brotherhood, before he left Syria. “Unlike what Assad said, he [Meshaal] has always blamed the Muslim Brotherhood in their difference with Assad regime,” he said.

He also denied that Meshaal’s daughter and her husband were on the side of the Syrian opposition during their stay in Syria. “They have never been accused of what Assad talked about in his speech,” he said.

Several days ago, Assad claimed that the Syrian security services had caught Meshaal’s daughter and her husband passing weapons to the opposition. They were released following the interference of Hamas’s leadership.

“The worst thing that hurt Meshaal when he left Syria was the close relationship with Al-Assad and his good stances towards Hamas,” Abu-Marzouk said. “Hamas will never forget this and it is promoting his stance wherever it goes.”

Abu-Marzouk said that Hamas took “a moral” and “political” decision to leave Syria, clarifying that Hamas recognised it was the “biggest loser” in this measure. “But our respect to our policy pushed us to take this decision,” he added.

“We have never announced any remark against the Syrian regime or government,” Abu-Marzouk said, “we remained aside all the time during the current incidents.”