Hamas denies supporting militant groups in Syria

Palestinian faction Hamas denied Sunday accusations levelled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad purporting that the group supports militant organisations in Syria.

“Hamas dissociates itself from the internal affairs of any Arab country,” leading Hamas member Ismail Radwan told Anadolu Agency.

He also reiterated his negation to any link between Hamas and Aknaf Beit Al-Maqdis, a militant group operating in the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus.

Radwan refused to comment on al-Assad’s remarks that Hamas movement is “dead” and that the people of Syria no longer trust it.

Al-Assad had claimed that Hamas is working as part of Al-Nusra Front militant group in Syria.

Syria has been ravaged by a deadly civil war since 2011, when al-Assad regime violently cracked down on anti-government demonstrations.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in the conflict to date, according to the latest UN figures.

Prior to the conflict, Palestinians living in Syria were estimated at some 581,000 – one third of whom had been living in the Yarmouk camp, according to the UN.

In recent years, however, as the conflict between Assad’s forces and armed opposition groups raged on, thousands of Palestinians in Syria have fled to neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan, while hundreds of others have fled to the Gaza Strip.

Around 166 Palestinian refugees starved to death in mid-2013 when Syrian regime forces besieged the Yarmouk camp.