The Action Group for the Palestinians of Syria (AGPS), a human-rights group monitoring the Palestinian refugees in Syria, said this week that 728 Palestinians had been killed while fighting alongside regime forces in Syria, 276 of them in the ranks of the Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA) which is overseen by the Syrian Ministry of Defence. Every male Palestinian-Syrian who turns 18 years old is automatically conscripted into the PLA. The AGPS said that among the dead were 100 combatants with the Popular Front-General Command led by Ahmed Jibril, a staunch supporter of the Syrian regime. Some 85 had been killed in the ranks of the Palestinian Liwa Al-Quds (Jerusalem Brigade), a militia founded by Mohamed Al-Saeed, a Palestinian, in Aleppo. It too is loyal to the regime. This brigade is different from the Iranian Al-Quds Brigade led by Iranian general Qassem Suleimani, but its goals are similar, and the two groups share a fierce loyalty to the regime led by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Another 80 Palestinians were killed while fighting side-by-side with the regime, including in the Fatah Intifada, Al-Jaleel Forces and Free Palestine groups. 187 Palestinians were killed while fighting alongside groups and popular committees affiliated to the Syrian security agencies. Sources from the Palestinian factions and militias that operate in Syria under the sponsorship and supervision of the regime said the number of Palestinian combatants killed exceeded the official number, perhaps by four or even tenfold. The Syrian regime has provided the families of those killed with certificates of appreciation and modest sums whose amounts the pro-regime media has been too embarrassed to report. They have been soon forgotten as have the tens of thousands of pro-regime combatants belonging to irregular militias that have acted viciously towards Syrian citizens. There have been many Palestinian factions and militias fighting alongside the regime since the start of the Syrian Revolution in 2011, often acting against fellow Palestinians supporting the revolution and the Syrian people. These have included the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, created in April 1968 to lead these factions, as well as the Fatah Intifada Movement, the Baath Special Forces group, the Free Palestine Movement, the Popular Struggle Front, the Al-Jaleel Forces, the Palestinian Al-Quds Brigade and the PLA. These militias have been prominent in refugee camps in Yarmouk, Khan Danon, Al-Sayeda Zeinab, Al-Husseineya, Jurmana, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Deraa, Badeya and Deir Al-Zor. They are also present in camps under regime control such as in Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Al-Raml in Latakia. Palestinian observers believe that the eight-year-old crisis in Syria has caused Palestinian Syrians to become forgotten victims of the war. Since the Syrian people rose up and demanded the overthrow of the regime, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced or have fled abroad. Palestinian-Syrians have suffered much the same fate, most of them forced to continue their journey as refugees. No one speaks on their behalf, and it does not seem that this will change or that their future prospects in Syria are promising. The pro-regime media has published photographs of a Russian security company training Palestinian Al-Quds Brigade militias in Aleppo, with Russian social media accounts claiming they were of Russian trainers from the Russian private security firm Vega/Vegacy working with brigade militias in Aleppo. The training included the use of tanks and heavy artillery and live ammunition. The Al-Quds Brigade recently announced a course at the Handarat Camp for Palestinians in Aleppo, and brigade leader Mohamed Al-Saeed and his entourage toured the camp and those returning from the military course. The reports claim that the Al-Quds Brigade has complied with Russian orders in return for financial assistance and arms and protection after it lost most of its Iranian backing. Since Iran's support diminished to almost nothing in the last quarter of 2018, hundreds of the group's combatants were let go and regime militias arrested several of its field commanders including Samer Rafie and his comrades near the Al-Nayrab Camp in northeast Aleppo. Russia has focused on training the Al-Quds Brigade to cover the frontlines with the armed opposition in the Aleppo suburbs and to exclude tribal militias close to Iran. Russian troops use the militias to protect their positions in the heart of the city, and the PLA has also forced Palestinian recruits to carry arms and sent them into battle to assist the Syrian army in fighting the opposition. Anyone who disobeys is considered a traitor and an agent of the opposition. Thousands of Palestinians have fled Syria to avoid conscription and harassment by the security forces. It is hard to separate the condition of the Palestinians from the Syrian crisis in general because the Palestinian cause is at the heart of the situation for the international community and countries involved in Syria. The unwavering pro-regime position of the Palestinian factions makes the cost they bear ever higher. Forces standing by the Al-Assad regime have not always been able to provide protection for Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, especially in mixed neighbourhoods where Palestinians and Syrians live side-by-side. The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah have participated in the events financially and through statements by officials, and they have now switched to supporting the regime officially. All the Palestinian groups and factions in Syria have followed the orders of the Syrian regime, which has meant that their weapons have been used to spread further misery among a people in revolt against a dictatorial regime.
