The arrest of Talal Naji in Damascus ignites a new tension between Syria and the Popular Front.

In a sudden development, Syrian authorities in Damascus today, Saturday, detained Talal Naji, the Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, following his summons to review one of the security branches in the Syrian capital. According to a leader in the Front, Naji entered the security headquarters based on an official request, but has not left since then, causing surprise and anger among the leadership of the Palestinian faction based in Damascus. Sources from the Front confirmed that the arrest came amid increasing pressure from the Syrian authorities, recently preventing the Front from engaging in any political activities, seizing its offices, as well as completely disrupting its commercial and investment activities, marking a significant shift in its relationship with the Syrian regime with which it had a close alliance for decades. In an urgent response, the French news agency reported that the Front had direct contacts with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, urging them to intervene with the Syrian government to release Naji and contain the situation. It is worth mentioning that Talal Naji assumed the position of Secretary-General of the Front in July 2021, succeeding the founder Ahmed Jibril, who passed away earlier in the same month. Jibril, a Syrian national, was one of the prominent supporters of the Syrian regime since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011, and the Front fought alongside Assad's forces, especially in the battles of the Yarmouk refugee camp for Palestinians in Damascus. This event comes less than three weeks after the announcement by the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, of the arrest of two of its leaders in Damascus, indicating a new, stricter approach by Damascus towards armed Palestinian factions, even those that were its traditional allies.