What is behind Abbas' support for Putin's Syria war?

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly expressed support for Russian air raids, according to remarks attributed to him a senior Russian official who met with him in Ramallah last week.

Although the Ramallah government is allied to Gulf states bitterly opposed to the Syrian regime - which Russia is backing through air raids - the Palestinian Authority leader has different calculations.

First and foremost on his mind is likely a rivalry with the Islamist militant movement Hamas, which is based in Gaza.

Hamas left its headquarters in Damascus shortly after the revolution against Bashar al-Assad erupted.

Since then, Hamas has refused to take sides in the war - publically at least - although many groups ideologically alligned to the Muslim Brotherhood movement are fighting against the regime.

Abbas Zaki, personal envoy of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - who was until recently a regular guest on Syrian state-owned television channels - has engineered a detente between the PLO/Fatah and the Syrian regime after a 32-year estrangement.

Divided again

Palestinians have been divided over the Syrian war. Some factions have fought alongside the regime in Syria, including the PFLP-GC led by Ahmed Jibril.

Publicly, Fatah supports a political settlement in Syria and opposes foreign intervention. However, that does not seem to include Russian and Iranian interference in the war.

But Fatah's stances can only be seen as implicitly supporting the Syrian regime.

This has even prompted accusations of Fatah doing secret deals with Assad regarding issues such as Palestinian refugees in Syria and their role in the war. This comes on the back of the siege of the Palestinian Yarmouk camp.

The rivalry with Hamas, now reviled by Assad, and Russia's increasing clout in the region could explain Abbas's stance

The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, weak and short of friends, may also be clutching at straws, throwing in its lot with Russia as the balance of power in Syria is tipped against the opposition.

But it is not just Fatah that now seems to be betting on a Russian-backed military solution that restores Syrian regime control, at least over "useful", populated parts of Syria.

The international community, possibly including backers of the Syrian rebels, appears increasingly silent over Russia's actions.

Even the United States, despite its claims to the contrary, seems to be in favour of Russia's intervention, if comments allegedly made by US Secretary of State John Kerry are true.

According to Middle East Eye, Kerry told Syrian aid workers they should expect another three months of bombing that would "decimate" the opposition.

During a conversation on the sidelines of this week’s Syria donor conference in London, Kerry purportedly blamed the Syrian opposition for leaving the talks and paving the way for a  joint offensive by the Syrian government and Russia on Aleppo.