The militant Palestinian group Hamas has reported that four men have been detained in Syria in connection with a suspected plot to assassinate Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal.
Hamas issued brief details of the arrests after the Arab television network al-Jazeera quoted informed sources as saying Syria detained four men recruited by Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to kill Meshaal, who spends much time in Damascus.
The report came just over a month after Israel vowed to renew an assassination campaign against Hamas leaders at home and abroad, and about two weeks after a mid-level Hamas leader was assassinated in Damascus, a killing Syria blamed on Israel.
Syrian security officials said they had no immediate comment. The Hamas representative in Lebanon said he had confirmation of the arrests but that details were sketchy.
Another Hamas official in Beirut told Reuters the men were from a neighbouring Arab state but he did not know which one. He said they were under suspicion after being seen close to Meshaal's Damascus house.
Many leaders of Hamas, the main group spearheading suicide bombings against Israelis in recent years, have gone into hiding.
Israeli officials said in September the new policy, in response to suicide bombings on August 31st that killed 16 people, was to hit them wherever they were. Army chief Moshe Yaalon said that included those in "terror command posts in Damascus".
Meshaal survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997.