Palestinian Arabs are being paid to fight for Russia against Ukraine The Media Line reports.
The investigation cited a Lebanese government security official who said that Russian entities with close ties to Vladimir Putin are offering $350 to each Palestinian Arab willing to join Russia’s ongoing military war on the Ukrainian people.
The recruitment campaign is orchestrated by activists linked with the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic mission in Lebanon.
Palestinian Arabs living in Lebanon are particularly suited for service as mercenaries, the report said, since all those who were born in any of the 12 so-called Palestinian refugee camps after 1969 are not registered with Lebanese authorities and therefore cannot easily be tracked.
Palestinians are currently deployed to the frontlines of the war in Ukraine, with most of the soldiers coming from Sidon, Lebanon.
The recruits, according to the report, are mostly affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Fatah movement, which is the ruling faction of the Palestinian Authority that has control over much of the West Bank.
Palestinians are currently carrying out terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens through shootings and car rammings.
Other known terrorist groups are also represented in the ranks of the mercenaries serving on Russia’s behalf, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The pro-Iranian Hezbollah terrorist organization has helped to facilitate Russian recruitment efforts, the Lebanese official said, adding that Hezbollah is actively searching for drone operators and mercenaries with guerrilla warfare experience to assist the Russian military in Ukraine.
The report estimates that roughly 300 are currently deployed on the front lines with an additional 100 mercenaries being organized in Ain al-Hilweh.
Palestinian Arabs living in Syria have also been recruited to fight on Russia’s behalf, said Muhammad Sarmini, director of the London-based Abaad Center for Strategic Studies.
An entire special forces division of the Syrian military has been deployed to Ukraine, Sarmini said, adding that the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization, has recruited soldiers from northern Syria, operating out of a Russian-controlled enclave near Latakia.
The Lebanese government condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when the war began.
–Wire services and Metro Voice
