For a group that likes to claim they have nothing in common with al-Qaeda they’ve spent an enormous amount of time expressing their outrage over Bin Laden’s assassination.

(Reuters) — Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday the United States had no right to kill Osama bin Laden but said this did not mean the Palestinian Islamist group supported al Qaeda’s attacks on civilians.

Speaking on France 24 television, the Damascus-based Meshaal also said there should be more freedom in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad has deployed his armed forces to crush a seven-week-old revolt against his authoritarian rule.

“Concerning bin Laden everyone knows Hamas has differences from al Qaeda . . . especially (its) operations targeting civilians, but all this doesn’t give the U.S. the right to kill as they please without any regard for the law and to assassinate Arabs and Muslims, blaming everything on them and accusing them of terrorism,” Meshaal said in the France 24 interview.

During the height of a Palestinian uprising between 2000 and 2005, Hamas carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israeli towns and it is classified by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group.

Related:

Hamas Chief Khaled Mashaal Calls Bin Laden Assassination an “Atrocity”

Hamas Chief Condemns Killing of “Arab Holy Warrior” Osama bin Laden, Calls Him a “True Believer and Martyr”

Gaza: Hamas Supporters Pay Tribute to “Martyr” Bin Laden

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