Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement on Tuesday denied some Arab media reports saying that the movement's Damascus-based chief Khaled Mesh'al had moved his bureau from Syria to Sudan.
"Such reports are inaccurate and untrue," senior Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Radwan said in a written statement sent to reporters, adding that
"the ties between Hamas and Syria are still very strong."
Earlier, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai quoted well-informed Palestinian sources in Syria as saying that Mesh'al, the chief of Hamas, has already moved his bureau and his home from Syria to Sudan.
According to the report, the sources told the Kuwaiti paper that "an undeclared agreement was reached between the Syrian authorities and Mesh'al
that the latter leaves the Syrian territories."
The sources, meanwhile, didn't rule out that the reason behind Mesh'al's leaving is the ongoing progress that has been recently achieved in the Israeli-Syrian negotiations.
Mesh'al of Hamas, as well as some leaders of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) and other Palestinian left-wing factions have been based in Syria for several years after they were expelled from Lebanon and Jordan.
The sources expected that in case a peace treaty is reached between Syria and Israel in the future, the latter would ask from Syria to expel all the Palestinian factions from its territories.
"Our relationship with our Syrian brothers is a deep, strong and strategic relation," stressed Radwan.