Abbas expected to visit Syria next week

News reports in Damascus said that the Syrian leadership has invited Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to visit Damascus, Syrian government sources say, and Abbas is expected to visit next week.

Talks are expected to be dominated by the recent stunning election victory of Hamas in the territories and its efforts to form a government. Syrian-Palestinian relations are currently improving significantly, both between the two governments and between Syria and the various Palestinian factions in the country, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command.

If confirmed this will be Mahmoud Abbas' second visit to Damascus since Abbas assumed the presidency.

Last July, Abbas met president Bashar al-Assad and heads of ten local Palestinian factions, including the head of Hamas political office Khaled Mashaal, the secretary general of Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shalah, and the head of the Democratic Front, Nayef Hawatmeh.