NICOSIA Ñ Hundreds of Palestinians have arrived in Iraq to fight for
the regime of President Saddam Hussein.
Palestinian sources in Lebanon said members of the Fatah movement led by
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat have been deployed in Baghdad.
They said the Palestinians are training to serve as suicide attackers for
Saddam.
"What is happening in Iraq is the battle of the Palestinian people first
and the Arab and Muslim nation second," Col. Munir Maqdeh, the Fatah
commander in Lebanon, told the Israeli Arab weekly A-Sinara.
Maqdeh said one Fatah contingent has already been deployed in Baghdad.
Another group of Fatah insurgents is scheduled to follow shortly, he said.
On Sunday, Iraq announced that 4,000 Arab volunteers have arrived in the
country to carry out suicide attacks against U.S. and allied troops. The
volunteers were said to have been deployed in the Baghdad area.
Thousands of Fatah insurgents are deployed in Lebanon and receive
salaries from Arafat. Palestinian sources said that in February, envoys for
Saddam's son, Uday, arrived in Lebanon to recruit for Iraqi suicide squads.