If Hamas militants are holding an Israeli soldier in Gaza, why are Israeli jets buzzing the home of Syria's president 180 miles away?

The answer lies in the two poles of political power within Hamas – and the role played by the Islamic militants' Damascus-based leader, Khaled Meshaal.

Israel's message to Hamas and to regional supporters in countries such as Syria is that it will not accept Hamas's claim that political figures – in Gaza or abroad – act separately from the military wing. Mr. Meshaal has vowed that Hamas would continue to fight Israel, despite more moderate statements coming from Palestinian leaders elected in January.

"It is a mirage to think that internal and external leadership of Hamas fundamentally represent some cataclysmic rift," says Hamas expert Magnus Ranstorp, an analyst at the Swedish National Defense College.

"Yes, there are differences, but the movement is much larger than individual representatives. They play the inside-outside card very carefully, and they divorced the military wing from the rest, so they could say [militant activities] 'are outside our control.' But the inside-outside leadership is much closer than what [it] appears," he says.

Hamas was founded in 1987 – around the same time as the outbreak of the first intifada. In 1993, it decided to split into two wings, one military and secretive, and one political – the public face of Hamas. That division, as well as the divisions between Hamas "inside" (the occupied territories) and Hamas outside (in cities such as Damascus) have served the organization well, says Mr. Ranstorp.

Mr. Meshaal has lived in Damascus since 2001 following a short stint in Qatar after he was expelled from Jordan in 1999, along with three other Hamas officials. Unlike his colleagues in the Palestinian territories, Meshaal is able to travel the region, holding talks with key Arab leaders such as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

With international attention focused on the Hamas government of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, analysts say that Meshaal will want to prevent Hamas from being pressured into making concessions to appease Israel and the West, while staking out his own claim to be the movement's dominant powerbroker. Meshaal heads the political bureau of Hamas and is thought to be the top leader of a movement that eschews a hierarchical structure. Instead, decisions are supposed to be made on the Islamic Shura system of decree by consensus among a ruling council.

Some Palestinians have themselves called attention to the obvious differences of opinion that exist within Hamas. In this comparison, the "inside" leadership has been considered to be more pragmatic – they and their local supporters will feel the brunt of travel closures or Israel's retaliatory measures.

The "outsiders" are viewed as more hard-line and ideological, since the blowback of any attack on Israel is unlikely to be felt by them in any direct way. In kind, local reports have suggested that the "inside" political leadership represented by Mr. Haniyeh was not apprised of the upcoming attack on Kerem Shalom, which may have been planned primarily by the "outside" leadership – something that has become a kind of codeword for senior Hamas leader Meshaal in Damascus.

Ranstorp also believes that Sunday's kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, which was the catalyst for the heightened hostilities, looks like it was learned from a Hizbullah handbook. "Hamas has coordination with Hizbullah, and that is very important. Hizbullah is an auxiliary force of Hamas, and it provides tactical inspiration.

"I'm not suggesting that Hizbullah is behind this kidnapping, but what I'm seeing is the ideal of kidnapping a soldier and using him to highlight the prisoner issue, and that's a very classic Hizbullah repertoire."

Late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, Israel's approach to its offensive in Gaza veered in an unexpected direction when it arrested 64 Hamas officials, including cabinet ministers and members of the elected parliament.

The arrests, which involved pulling many away from a hotel in Ramallah at gunpoint, is a loud message that Israel was not willing to distinguish between the political and military Hamas.

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