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Lebanese cannon fodder head for Iraq
Some 250 volunteers from the Baalbek area are believed to have headed to Iraq to participate in combat against the American and British armies, but it was unknown if they were to take part in suicide bombings or conventional armed resistance only. Sources familiar with the issue said that about 35 young men from the village of Nahleh, 200 from Arsal and a few others from Baalbek and its immediate surroundings, have traveled to Baghdad. Baalbek-Hermel MP Assem Qanso, speaking during a solidarity meeting with the Iraqi people in Baalbek on Sunday with several other MPs, made the claim that an undetermined ânumberâ of Bekaa residents had left for Iraq, to take part in the fight against the American and British forces. Qanso heads the pro-Syrian Baath Party in Lebanon. Qanso and his fellow MP praised the anti-war stands of the Vatican and the positions of Lebanon, Syria and Iran. They also condemned the official Arab position and said threats were not only directed at Iraq but at the whole Arab nation. This is not the first time that young Lebanese men, mainly from the Bekaa, have gone to fight in Iraq. In the Iraq-Iran war, from 1980 to 1988, some 500 fighters fought alongside Iraq, some of them are still in captivity or missing. About a month and a half ago, Iran handed its last captured Lebanese to Hizbullah, a resident of Nahleh, from the Qais family. Guess they're determined never to learn... Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-03-31 |
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