The Syrian Army supplies some of its soldiers to the Palestinian terrorist organization Al Saiqa which is sponsored by the Damascus regime, it was disclosed today. The practice was exposed by the capture of a Syrian Army regular among terrorists taken prisoner during Israeli Army raids into Lebanon Sept. 16-17.
The captured soldier, Mustafa Abd el Salem, was not given POW status because he was not wearing a Syrian Army uniform at the time of his capture. He disclosed that he belonged to a group of Syrian soldiers who underwent basic training in the Army and were subsequently seconded to Al Saiqa in Lebanon where they completed their two-and-a-half years of military training.
The soldiers remain on the Army payroll but their pay is higher because of the “added risks,” it was learned. According to information extracted from el Salem, the Syrian soldiers are sent to a camp near Beirut where they are received by the Al Saiqa commander, Lt. Col. Mustafa Saad a Din. They are warned not to reveal their identity but to pretend to be Palestinians. The Lebanese authorities are fully aware of this practice and apparently consent to it, Israeli sources said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
