Syrian army officers and instructors of El Fatah, the terrorist arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization, trained Iranian opponents of the Shah in guerrilla warfare on Syrian soil, according to a report published in Maariv. The newspaper’s Arab affairs correspondent claimed that this training began before the disturbances broke out in Iran and continues to this day.
The basic training is by El Fatah but Syrian officers participate in the later stages, Maariv said. The paper said PLO leaders kept this activity secret although they expressed readiness to help exiled Moslem leader Ayatullah Khoumeini depose the Shah.
According to Maariv, groups of 10-20 Iranians have been coming to an El Fatah training camp near Damascus over a period of many months. There they receive instruction in the use of arms, explosives and house-to-house fighting. At the end of the brief but intensive course, the trainees return to Iran where they participate in the street fighting in Teheran and elsewhere Maariv said.
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.
