Hamas Denies That Its Leader Meshaal Has Left Syria For Sudan

I think Hamas is lying through their teeth on this one - I personally think Hamas' grand poobah of a leader, Khaled Meshaal, has skipped town out of Syria and is now living in Sudan. Basically, Meshaal DID go to Sudan in August (which is pretty damn odd to begin with) but Hamas says he came back to Syria. Yeah right. Anyway, here's some of the details on why Meshaal probably high-tailed it outta Syria from the article at Khaleej Times:

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Tuesday denied that its political supremo Khaled Meshaal had moved from his self-imposed exile in Syria to Sudan.
"The movement totally denies media reports saying that Khaled Meshaal has left Syria for Sudan," a Hamas official said in a statement received by AFP. "These reports are false."

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai on Tuesday, quoting unnamed Palestinian sources, said Meshaal had "moved to Sudan from Syria" allegedly because of the relaunch of indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel.
According to the report, which was picked up by Israeli media, there was "an undeclared agreement between Syrian authorities and Meshaal stipulating that the latter should leave Syrian territory."
Al-Rai said its sources "did not rule out" that Meshaal's alleged departure from Syria was linked to "progress" in the Turkish-mediated talks between Syria and Israel.

And there you have the most accepted reason for Meshaal leaving Syria - that his vacating was part of the peace talks that are going on between Syria and Israel (monitored by Turkey). Now, that is probably true but I'd like to throw out another contributing factor and that was the assassination of Mughniyeh in Damascus a few months ago. That had to scare the shit out of Meshaal and he probably started looking for safer havens right after that.

At the same time, if Meshaal IS out of Syria, it will come as a blow to Hamas - they have always gloated over the fact that he was that close to Israel and yet couldn't be touched. Now he can live in the Sudan with the lunatics there eating beetles and hoping the whack job military of Sudan doesn't get a bug up its ass to start killing Arabs.

Hamas denies political chief Meshaal quit Syria for Sudan

DAMASCUS - The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Tuesday denied that its political supremo Khaled Meshaal had moved from his self-imposed exile in Syria to Sudan.
"The movement totally denies media reports saying that Khaled Meshaal has left Syria for Sudan," a Hamas official said in a statement received by AFP. "These reports are false."
Meshaal visited Sudan in early August to express solidarity with President Omar al-Beshir after the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested an arrest warrant for the Sudanese leader over alleged war crimes.
However, Hamas said Meshaal had since returned to Damascus.
The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai on Tuesday, quoting unnamed Palestinian sources, said Meshaal had "moved to Sudan from Syria" allegedly because of the relaunch of indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel.
According to the report, which was picked up by Israeli media, there was "an undeclared agreement between Syrian authorities and Meshaal stipulating that the latter should leave Syrian territory."
Al-Rai said its sources "did not rule out" that Meshaal's alleged departure from Syria was linked to "progress" in the Turkish-mediated talks between Syria and Israel.
The two countries announced in May they had resumed indirect peace talks after an eight-year freeze. Four rounds of talks have taken place so far and a fifth is due soon, according to Israeli public radio.
The negotiations broke down in 2000 over the fate of the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community.
As a condition for progress, Israel is demanding that Damascus break off its ties with Iran as well as with Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. Israel considers both groups to be terrorist organisations.
Syria has said it would reject any preconditions in the talks that call on it to change its relations with other countries or groups.
Meshaal said in June that the peace talks would not affect relations between Hamas and Syria, which is home to a number of radical Palestinian groups.