lubna
07-12-2004, 11:11
Braving Bombings, Volunteers Flock To Baghdad
2003-04-01 18:51:59
IslamOnline & News Agencies
April 1, 2003
ARAB CAPITALS - While Islam generally bans suicide and regards the one who commits it as non-Muslim it, however, allows it in defence of aggression on Muslims and their land, celebrating as "martyrs" those who make the sacrifice.
Driven by unshakable and praise-worthy faith, thousands of volunteers, both Iraqis and Arabs, are determined to cross into Iraq to brave the deadly U.S.-led bombings and to defend the country.
Since the invasion began, taxis, trucks and civilian buses have been shuttling back and forth between Amman and Jordan's remote eastern border, where volunteers are taking buses for the hazardous journey, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday, April, 1.
The Iraqi embassy in Amman says at least 3000 volunteers have made their way into the country.
"We stand ready to sacrifice our souls for the sake of our country," a would-be Iraqi martyr told the daily at Amman's main bus station for the trip to Baghdad.
"If any Iraqi does not go back at this time he has no loyalty to his home. He is not a good man. If the situation were not like this in Baghdad I would not go back, but I have to go," he told the daily.
"America is not coming with its soldiers to be killed for our sake," he asserted.
"It's coming for its own interests. They want to look after our oil wells, not the Iraqis. They are an occupation force. They should be met with guns, not flowers."
Like other volunteers - and people across the Arab world - he now regards Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as a heroic defender of his people and is ready to let bygones be bygones for the sake of their mother land.
"Now we are all with Saddam," he underlined. "The internal differences are now put to one side…It is breaking my heart…I hear my country is calling me and I want to defend my other go home."
Taba Saheb, 35, a driver and father of three, was hoping to fill his truck with passengers and then make his way home to join in the war.
"It's my place, it's my home," he says. "Everything I have is there. It is our duty to defend our family and our country. America said it is going to free Iraqis from terror, not that it will free them from life. Their air strikes have killed innocents, elderly people, women and children."
Palestinian Lesson
All of them, in fact, are would-be martyrs. They said that they are willing to wear explosives around their bodies and thrust into the invaders.
"It is a heroic action," says Saheb, a father of three. "These invaders come to take everything from us, so any kind of resistance is good. If the situation becomes more serious we will all be doing it."
"We have learned from the Palestinians. The Arabs left Palestine and now the Jews won't let them back."
Handal Jiad Sahan is 45, but looks older. A veteran of 13 years in the rocket artillery, he abandoned a job as truck driver to try to join in the fight.
A native of Samawa, near Basra, he has six children - "three in the army", he boasts. He does not think himself too old for the war. "Forty-five is good for a soldier," he said.
"We must all fight the enemy. They are invaders. They want our country. They want our oil."
It was reported that Iraq gave $34,000 to the family of Ali Jafaar al-Noamani, the Iraqi army non-commissioned officer who killed four U.S. soldiers in a martyrdom operation.
Noamani, a father of five children, was posthumously promoted to colonel and awarded two medals for the heroic action in An-Najaf.
There is a consensus that "martyr operations" can be resorted to when the defenders have no other options or when the invader has an overwhelming force -- such as the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, the Israeli army against the Palestinians, or Russian troops against the Chechens.
Syria Defies U.S., Allows Volunteers Into Iraq
Syria, for its part, defied the latest warnings by U.S. Defence and Department Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell and expedited the passage of volunteers wishing to join the Iraqis in their uphill struggle against the U.S.-led invasion.
Thousands of volunteers, most of them Syrians, are thronging to the Mosul and Kirkuk regions in north Iraq, the Israeli Haaretz reported Tuesday.
Damascus let them cross into Iraq through the official border passes, and became the first state bordering with Iraq to permit the passage of volunteers, added the paper.
On Monday, Powell warned Syria and Iran not to cooperate with what he termed as terrorism and with Saddam's regime.
On Friday, March 28, Rumsfeld accused Damascus of transferring weapons to Iraq, but did not mention volunteers.
A Syrian spokesman also announced Monday that his country "has chosen to align itself with the brotherly Iraqi people who are facing an illegal and unjustified invasion and against whom are being committed all sorts of crimes against humanity."
Arab Volunteers Leave Lebanon For Iraq
More than 30 Arabs left Lebanon Monday to go and join the Iraqi resistance against the Anglo-American invaders, vowing to fight for "God and Iraq."
The volunteers, most of them Lebanese but also including Palestinians, two Egyptians and a Syrian, gathered at the Iraqi embassy in east Beirut where they received their passports stamped with visas, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Before mounting the bus to Iraq via Damascus, the volunteers prayed in front of the embassy.
One of them said it was "the duty of every Muslim to engage in jihad (holy war) against invading forces."
"God is great!" and "We will sacrifice our souls and blood for you, Oh Iraq!" they chanted as the bus left.
On arrival at the Masnaa border post with Syria, a 33-year-old Lebanese father of three explained why he was leaving his family behind to risk his life in Iraq.
"I am leaving my children in the hands of Allah. They have someone to take care of them, whereas Iraqi children are under the bombs," said Nureddin Abbud as-Seyyed, a native of Akkar, a poor region in northern Lebanon.
"We will defend all Arab lands, from Baghdad to Al-Quds (Jerusalem)," he said.
continued...
2003-04-01 18:51:59
IslamOnline & News Agencies
April 1, 2003
ARAB CAPITALS - While Islam generally bans suicide and regards the one who commits it as non-Muslim it, however, allows it in defence of aggression on Muslims and their land, celebrating as "martyrs" those who make the sacrifice.
Driven by unshakable and praise-worthy faith, thousands of volunteers, both Iraqis and Arabs, are determined to cross into Iraq to brave the deadly U.S.-led bombings and to defend the country.
Since the invasion began, taxis, trucks and civilian buses have been shuttling back and forth between Amman and Jordan's remote eastern border, where volunteers are taking buses for the hazardous journey, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday, April, 1.
The Iraqi embassy in Amman says at least 3000 volunteers have made their way into the country.
"We stand ready to sacrifice our souls for the sake of our country," a would-be Iraqi martyr told the daily at Amman's main bus station for the trip to Baghdad.
"If any Iraqi does not go back at this time he has no loyalty to his home. He is not a good man. If the situation were not like this in Baghdad I would not go back, but I have to go," he told the daily.
"America is not coming with its soldiers to be killed for our sake," he asserted.
"It's coming for its own interests. They want to look after our oil wells, not the Iraqis. They are an occupation force. They should be met with guns, not flowers."
Like other volunteers - and people across the Arab world - he now regards Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as a heroic defender of his people and is ready to let bygones be bygones for the sake of their mother land.
"Now we are all with Saddam," he underlined. "The internal differences are now put to one side…It is breaking my heart…I hear my country is calling me and I want to defend my other go home."
Taba Saheb, 35, a driver and father of three, was hoping to fill his truck with passengers and then make his way home to join in the war.
"It's my place, it's my home," he says. "Everything I have is there. It is our duty to defend our family and our country. America said it is going to free Iraqis from terror, not that it will free them from life. Their air strikes have killed innocents, elderly people, women and children."
Palestinian Lesson
All of them, in fact, are would-be martyrs. They said that they are willing to wear explosives around their bodies and thrust into the invaders.
"It is a heroic action," says Saheb, a father of three. "These invaders come to take everything from us, so any kind of resistance is good. If the situation becomes more serious we will all be doing it."
"We have learned from the Palestinians. The Arabs left Palestine and now the Jews won't let them back."
Handal Jiad Sahan is 45, but looks older. A veteran of 13 years in the rocket artillery, he abandoned a job as truck driver to try to join in the fight.
A native of Samawa, near Basra, he has six children - "three in the army", he boasts. He does not think himself too old for the war. "Forty-five is good for a soldier," he said.
"We must all fight the enemy. They are invaders. They want our country. They want our oil."
It was reported that Iraq gave $34,000 to the family of Ali Jafaar al-Noamani, the Iraqi army non-commissioned officer who killed four U.S. soldiers in a martyrdom operation.
Noamani, a father of five children, was posthumously promoted to colonel and awarded two medals for the heroic action in An-Najaf.
There is a consensus that "martyr operations" can be resorted to when the defenders have no other options or when the invader has an overwhelming force -- such as the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, the Israeli army against the Palestinians, or Russian troops against the Chechens.
Syria Defies U.S., Allows Volunteers Into Iraq
Syria, for its part, defied the latest warnings by U.S. Defence and Department Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell and expedited the passage of volunteers wishing to join the Iraqis in their uphill struggle against the U.S.-led invasion.
Thousands of volunteers, most of them Syrians, are thronging to the Mosul and Kirkuk regions in north Iraq, the Israeli Haaretz reported Tuesday.
Damascus let them cross into Iraq through the official border passes, and became the first state bordering with Iraq to permit the passage of volunteers, added the paper.
On Monday, Powell warned Syria and Iran not to cooperate with what he termed as terrorism and with Saddam's regime.
On Friday, March 28, Rumsfeld accused Damascus of transferring weapons to Iraq, but did not mention volunteers.
A Syrian spokesman also announced Monday that his country "has chosen to align itself with the brotherly Iraqi people who are facing an illegal and unjustified invasion and against whom are being committed all sorts of crimes against humanity."
Arab Volunteers Leave Lebanon For Iraq
More than 30 Arabs left Lebanon Monday to go and join the Iraqi resistance against the Anglo-American invaders, vowing to fight for "God and Iraq."
The volunteers, most of them Lebanese but also including Palestinians, two Egyptians and a Syrian, gathered at the Iraqi embassy in east Beirut where they received their passports stamped with visas, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Before mounting the bus to Iraq via Damascus, the volunteers prayed in front of the embassy.
One of them said it was "the duty of every Muslim to engage in jihad (holy war) against invading forces."
"God is great!" and "We will sacrifice our souls and blood for you, Oh Iraq!" they chanted as the bus left.
On arrival at the Masnaa border post with Syria, a 33-year-old Lebanese father of three explained why he was leaving his family behind to risk his life in Iraq.
"I am leaving my children in the hands of Allah. They have someone to take care of them, whereas Iraqi children are under the bombs," said Nureddin Abbud as-Seyyed, a native of Akkar, a poor region in northern Lebanon.
"We will defend all Arab lands, from Baghdad to Al-Quds (Jerusalem)," he said.
continued...