Hamas blasts media for distorting Mashaal's remarks

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas lashed out at certain Arab media for distorting and misquoting the remarks made by Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal in and after a recent meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian in Doha, Qatar. "The atmosphere of the meeting between Khalid Mashaal and Amir Abdollahian was completely positive and they discussed the latest regional developments, and all the media reports alleging to the opposite are not true," a Hamas official was quoted by Palestine al-Youm news agency as saying on Monday. He said that during the meeting in Doha on Thursday, Mashaal underlined Hamas's emphasis on strengthening unity among the Muslim states, the necessity for settling the current crises in the Arab countries and materialization of nations' demands. The Hamas official said that the movement appreciates all those countries which support the resistance. His remarks came after certain Arab media outlets allegedly reported that the meeting between Amir Abdollahian and Mashaal was held in a negative atmosphere with the latter being discontent with Iran's position on Syria. But Amir Abdollahian told reporters on Sunday that Iran's uncertainties about Hamas's stances on the Syrian issue were obviated during the meeting, describing the atmosphere of his talks with Mashaal as positive. Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has put the death toll from the foreign-backed militancy against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at more than 160,000. Western powers and their regional allies - specially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - are supporting the militants operating inside Syria. As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists. Washington has remained indifferent to warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.