Hamas: party leader killed in Damascus

A Hamas leader was assassinated in Damascus on Wednesday night, a member of the party's politburo said. Izzat al-Rishq wrote on his Facebook page that Kamal Ghanaja, also known as Nizar Abu Mujahed, was killed in his home in the Syrian capital. Hamas is investigating the crime, al-Rishq said, adding that the murder would not go unpunished. A Hamas official in Lebanon told Agence-France Presse that the group suspected Israel's Mossad of killing Ghanaja. Ghanaja had worked as an aide to Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas leader who was shot dead in a hotel room in Dubai, an assassination widely attributed to Mossad, which never confirmed or denied involvement. Several websites affiliated to the opposition to President Bashar Assad blamed the Syrian regime for Ghanaja's killing and said Assad's forces murdered the Hamas leader as a message to the movement not to reject its long-time ally. Hamas' politburo moved to Damascus in 1999 after it was expelled from Jordan, but the party quietly quit the Syrian capital amid the bloody revolt against Assad. In February, Hamas leaders publicly denounced Assad and declared their support for Syrian rebels.