Secretary-general of PFLP-GC expelled by Damascus

Syria has expelled Talal Naji, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), the Emirati daily The National reported Sunday. He was ordered to leave Syria in the past two weeks, after being briefly detained on May 3, sources said, without specifying where he had gone, citing security reasons.

“A political decision was made to expel him,” said a Syrian security official who requested anonymity. A Palestinian official confirmed to The National from Ramallah that Naji, a political opponent of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, had left Syria.

Naji, around 80, lost an eye in a bomb explosion many years ago. He is married to a relative of Asma al-Assad, the wife of the former Syrian president. According to The National, Naji recruited hundreds of Palestinians into the Jerusalem Brigades, who fought alongside Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war.

At the end of May, the new Syrian authorities imposed “restrictions” on Palestinian groups close to the ousted government and Iran, whose leaders left Damascus, an American requirement before lifting sanctions against Syria, according to AFP. Palestinian factions allied with Syria and IRan enjoyed freedom of movement in Syria under Bashar al-Assad, whose regime was part of the “Axis of Resistance” of Iran’s allies against Israel. These factions “fully handed over their weapons” to authorities after the fall of Assad in early December 2024, according to AFP.

The leaders who left Syria include Khaled Jibril, son of the founder of the PFLP-GC, Khaled Abdel Majid, secretary-general of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF), as well as Ziyad al-Saghir, leader of Fatah-Intifada.