Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — The Palestine Liberation Organization has been targeted by
the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Palestinian sources said Assad regime agents have been attacking and
killing PLO officers in refugee camps amid the Sunni revolt in Syria. They
said at least three Palestinian officers were assassinated around Damascus,
including a battalion commander, for refusing regime demands to participate
in the crackdown on the rebels.

“There is no question that we are talking about operations of the Syrian regime,” a Palestinian source said.

The most prominent of the casualties was identified as Col. Nasser Al Maqari. Al Maqari was shot dead as he was driving home to the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus on early Feb. 29.

The sources said even more senior PLO officers were threatened by the Assad regime. They identified one target as Brig. Gen. Reza Khadera, said to have escaped an ambush in Yarmouk in late February.

The attacks came amid increasing pressure by the Assad regime for
manpower to quell the Sunni revolt. The sources said Assad’s military and security forces sought to use Sunni rather than Alawite forces to
capture the rebel stronghold of Homs.

So far, most of the PLO factions have refused to join the regime. A
Palestinian militia that was recruited was identified as the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, led by Ahmed Jibril, a
Syrian Army officer and believed financed by Iran.

“We are trying to stay neutral,” the source said. “Jibril is a Syrian
military officer, and he does not represent the Palestinians.”

The sources said the regime appeared increasingly frustrated with the
Palestinian refusal to help quell the rebellion. They said residents of
Yarmouk were rejecting PFLP approaches to join pro-Assad militias, and that
instead some of the Palestinians decided to fight with the rebels.

The PLO’s main rival, Hamas, has withdrawn its staff from headquarters
in Damascus. The sources said mid- and senior-level Hamas staffers left
Syria for other Arab countries in late 2011 after the Islamic movement
refused to support the regime crackdown.

“We have to stay neutral,” a PLO official told the London-based A-Sharq
Al Awsat daily on March 2.

  Ahmed Jibril, Bashar Assad, Brig. Gen. Reza Khadera, Col. Nasser Al Maqari, Palestinian Liberation Organization, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, sources say, Syrian regime said to target Palestinians who won’t fight uprising, Yarmouk refugee camp