Damascus: Syrian authorities arrested two senior members of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad—its Syria leader Khaled Khaled and veteran official Yasser al-Zafari—on April 22, 2025, in Damascus, detaining them for five days without explanation.
The group said and Syria’s interior ministry confirmed, the arrests mark a striking departure from decades under President Bashar al-Assad, when Syria served as a safe haven for Palestinian armed factions, and reflect the new rebel-led government’s efforts to reassert control over militant groups and distance itself from Iran in hopes of securing U.S. sanction relief.
A shift underscored by the recent visit of Republican congressmen to Damascus and conditioned by Washington on cracking down on extremist organizations.
