All Aboard the Terrorists’ Convoy

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

DAMASCUS, Syria – When not in Iraq, Abdullah cuts meat for a living. He is a Syrian cook at the Kingdom of God restaurant in Damascus, in a bustling suburb dominated by Iraqi exiles.


For the past year Abdullah has also been on the payroll of Iraqi resistance forces fighting coalition troops. Like many Syrians he is convinced that his country will be invaded next and that it is only by keeping America bogged down in Iraq that Syria will be spared. “All we know is that Syria is the next station in the American plan. The Americans are all Jews and unbelievers,'” said Abdullah.


In April, the 23-year-old boarded a convoy of vehicles in Aleppo, northern Syria, with 10 other fighters from the area. He had been recruited at a mosque 30 miles south of Aleppo, built last year by a local sheik with business interests in Iraq and strong sympathies with the resistance. It is brazenly entitled the “Mujahedeen Mosque.”


Abdullah, originally from the Aleppo area, and the other fighters, were provided with Iraqi passports and weapons. Abdullah was given a bazooka to carry.


They were told they would be relieving Syrian mujahedeen already in Iraq, part of a regular “troop” rotation, and would be expected to fight until they in turn were either killed or replaced.


In return Abdullah’s family would be paid $3,000 a month by the mosque, more than most American soldiers in Iraq, and a fortune in Syria.


The men were driven to a mosque in Mosul, where according to Abdullah dozens of their fellow countrymen were staying. He would not disclose the name of mosque, but one such building in Mosul is the Mahmud mosque, infamous for supporting the insurgency.


This squat building on the west bank of the city has seen some of the heaviest fighting between insurgents and American and Iraqi forces recently.


Sheik Latif al-Jabouri, who runs the mosque, claims the Syrians he shelters are businessmen who come to buy and sell cars and pray. Inside the mosque, Abdullah was greeted by a former Iraqi military officer. He was assigned to a 10-man unit of Iraqi guerrillas, and the other Syrians he traveled with were spread among other units.


For the next 80 days, Abdullah and his unit went almost every day to attack American bases with mortars, or to man mujahedeen checkpoints.


He was transferred to Fallujah for three months, conducting raids with his unit in the Sunni towns of Samara and Ramadi.


Abdullah is reticent about giving details. He is a heavy-set man, clean-shaven and dressed in Western clothes, a sign perhaps of the high salary his family is paid even when he is not on duty.


“I don’t feel scared, I feel satisfied,” he said.


“We are Muslims, we should do jihad. We should go to Palestine but it is difficult to enter – but in Iraq it is easy to kill the Jews.”


Abdullah said he would return to Iraq within two weeks, undeterred by the American assault on Fallujah or Syrian efforts to close the border.


The Syrian government has belatedly begun work on a 24-foot high earth rampart at Rabia, after concerted American and Iraqi pressure.


But such efforts have done little to stop the flow of men and equipment away from border checkpoints, and the network of mosques that support people such as Abdullah.


The existence of the mujahedeen mosque is advertised by signpost on the main road to Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, beside roadside billboards advertising soap suds and “Magic World,” a theme park.


The mosque is a modest building, with a single minaret, covered with stone cladding. The surrounding countryside is rich agricultural land, dotted with recently constructed farmhouses.


Iraqi exiles in Damascus say there may be as many as 80 “mujahedeen mosques” either in name or spirit supporting the resistance.


Several prominent mosques in Damascus, including the large Bilal al-Hashemi mosque, have reputations as staging posts for Syrian fighters, suggesting a logistical and financial operation beyond the ability of any one tribal leader. The America military believes there may be as many as 2,000 foreign fighters in Iraq, mostly from Syria.


They do not operate in a vacuum. Iraqi exiles – those who fled the Saddam regime and more recent arrivals, supporters of the old regime – live in separate quarters of Damascus.


The refugees include the three sons of the former industry minister Mohammed al-Douri, on whose farm Saddam was captured in a bolt-hole.


It is likely that many recent arrivals have sufficient funds to finance Syrian mosques. As members of Saddam’s regime some have been able to buy swathes of Damascene property that they rent out. Others live off their plundered Iraqi money.


One place where money is on display is the al-Manar nightclub, high on the mountainside overlooking Damascus and a short drive from the Syrian president’s official residence.


In Damascus, a city where Islamic mores are strong, nightclubs are mostly filled with the super-rich ruling class and visiting sex tourists from the Gulf states.


The girls, wearing tight tops and loose hair, are from Syria or the former Soviet Union.


In the al-Manar nightclub, the girls are all Iraqi teenagers, or “Oranges” as their pimps call them, after a famous Iraqi pop song.


Among occasional visitors to this club is Omar Sibawi Ibrahim, a son of Sad dam’s half brother, a former head of secret intelligence and interior minister.


He was a notorious playboy and womanizer, and not surprisingly given his tastes, the best friend of Uday Saddam.


Now Mr. Ibrahim is a fat, bald 35-year-old. But he is well received in al-Manar.


Iraqi exiles believe that Omar is one of the main financiers of Syrian fighters in Iraq.


General Ali Sa’ad, 47, who commanded a division of Saddam’s special guard until he was sacked three months before the American invasion of Iraq on the grounds that he was a shiite, said: “Many members of Saddam’s government like Mr. Ibrahim work and support the resistance by giving them money.”


When asked about these allegations on the telephone, Mr. Ibrahim refused to talk.


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use