Syrian authorities have reportedly threatened to deport Adel al-Natour, a 71-year-old co-founder and former member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, after holding him for more than 11 months without trial or access to legal counsel. His family says security authorities informed them that he would be deported from Syria within 10 days.
Natour was reportedly detained from his home outside Damascus on September 18. His family says he left Palestinian Islamic Jihad in 1995 and has not been an active member since then. Despite this, he has remained in detention without formal charges being presented against him.
His case comes amid a broader campaign by Syria’s current government against Palestinian resistance factions and their political and military presence in the country since the fall of the Assad government. The new authorities have sought to dismantle or restrict the activities of Palestinian factions previously operating from Syria, including moves against their offices, facilities and senior figures.
The campaign has included the closure and confiscation of facilities belonging to several Palestinian factions, while reports have also documented the expulsion of Palestinian faction leaders from Syria. In June 2025, Syria reportedly expelled the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, while other Palestinian resistance officials and members have faced increasing pressure to leave the country.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad has also faced pressure under the new authorities. Reports have previously indicated arrests of senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures and restrictions on the faction’s presence in Syria. These developments have significantly changed Damascus’s longstanding relationship with Palestinian resistance factions, which had maintained an important political and organizational presence in the country for decades.
Natour’s family says they were repeatedly assured that he would eventually be released. Authorities reportedly told them that he had been detained because there was a danger to his life, without providing further details. During his detention, the family was reportedly allowed to visit him only four times, and his daughter said he had lost around 20 kilograms by the time they first saw him.
The family is now seeking to challenge the deportation order but says lawyers and courts have turned them away because Natour has not been formally charged with an offence that can be contested. His daughter has also said that her father would rather remain in detention than face deportation, arguing that their lives and work are based in Syria.
Human rights advocates have described Natour’s detention as unlawful and linked his case to broader concerns over arbitrary detention under Syria’s new authorities. His prolonged detention without formal charges, limited access to legal representation and threatened deportation have intensified questions over the treatment of Palestinians and members of Palestinian resistance factions under the current government.
The threatened deportation therefore comes against the backdrop of a wider transformation in Syria’s policy toward Palestinian resistance. As Damascus continues restricting the activities of resistance factions, closing or confiscating their facilities and placing pressure on their officials and leadership, Natour’s case has become another example of the growing uncertainty surrounding the future of Palestinian resistance organizations in Syria.
