Turkish media are reporting that Hamas leader Khaled Mashal has left Damascus, and that Hamas will now be based in Cairo, or Amman, or Qatar - depending on whichever of the many conflicting rumors or reports you read or hear.
A number of possible reasons for this are being reported in the Turkish media.
They are reported to range from Mashal’s claiming that the current situation in Syria makes it difficult for him to carry out his duties,
to Syrian President Assad’s inviting Mashal not to return from his current trip out of Syria,
to Mashal’s deciding to support Syrian Sunni rebel groups which are fighting against the Syrian government,
to Mashal’s desire to re-locate to Cairo because Hamas is shifting its alliances from Iran and Syria to groups and parties which are its more natural allies and have been gaining strength in Egypt and Tunisia in the political developments in those countries during the past few months,
to Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad convincing Mashal to re-locate to Amman or Qatar.
Right now, I have no idea as to what is really happening or why.