Member of the Fatah central committee, Azzam al- Ahmed, has said that<br />Iran is funding some Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip in order to<br />thwart efforts of reconciliation with Fatah. Ahmed's charges came in<br />response to the visits of two top Hamas leaders, Mahmoud Zahar and<br />Ismail Haniyeh, to Iran in the past few weeks. Relations between Hamas<br />and Iran were strained recently following the Islamist movement's<br />refusal to support Syrian President Assad.
