The leader of a Palestinian group warned the United States and Israel on Friday that if they attacked Syria or Iran, his guerrillas would fight them.
Ahmad Jibril, PFLP head, left, and Naif Hawatmeh, head of Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Photo: AP [file]
"We will not allow any aggression against Syria or the Islamic Republic of Iran," leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command Ahmed Jibril told a rally of about 1,000 supporters in a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital.
"I say it frankly, we will not only be on their side, we will be in the forefront," said Jibril.
Jibril was among the Palestinian faction leaders who met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when the Iranian leader visited Damascus in January.
"You must understand that the pressures on Syria and Islamic Iran are primarily because of their stand on the Palestinian cause," Jibril told the rally.
"If the United States of America and this Zionist entity (Israel) believe that they can change the regimes in Syria and Iran, then we tell them: 'Think whatever you wish, but the Palestinians inside and outside (the territories) will remain on the side of Syria and Iran'," Jibril said.
Earlier this month, after a dramatic highway pursuit, Israeli security forces apprehended a PFLP member en route to carry out a suicide bombing. The group also supplied the bomb used in an April 2 suicide bombing that killed four Israelis near Kedumim in the West Bank.
In October, one of Jibril's aides reported that he was planning to move to the Gaza Strip.
Adel Hakim, a senior member of the Popular Front-General Command, said Jibril expressed his desire to move to the Gaza Strip during a recent meeting between the two in Damascus. However, he added that Jibril had set a number of conditions for entering the Gaza Strip - first and foremost that Israel relinquish control over all the border crossings and main roads into the area.
Hakim told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that it was most probable that Jibril would decide to live in the Gaza Strip permanently after visiting the area. 'I don't know exactly what's going on in his mind, but Jibril has a strong bond with the Palestinian cause and people and this may prompt him to stay there,' he said.
According to Hakim, a senior delegation representing the Popular Front-General Command is expected to visit the Gaza Strip to prepare for Jibril's arrival as soon as the Rafah border crossing is placed under joint Palestinian-Egyptian control.
Last April, members of a PFLP cell were arrested after they had planned to assassinate Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
