Iraq border town ready to repay debt to Syrians

Al-QAEM, Iraq: Residents of Al-Qaem, an Iraqi town near the Syrian border, aim to repay a debt to Syrians who provided them with supplies, fighters and weapons when the region was facing U.S. forces in 2005.

“The brothers in Syria stood with the Iraqis ... when U.S. forces surrounded us in 2005, and opened their border and their hearts to us,” Sheikh Mohammad al-Karbuli told AFP. “They delivered us everything we needed – food, medicine, men and weapons ... from several places in Syria,” so we must “pay back to them the gratitude and charity in their ordeal.”

Abdul Nasser Mohammad al-Qaraghuli, who lives between Al-Qaem and the Syrian border, said that “we send them simple medical supplies now, and collect financial contributions from the wealthy people and we send [the contributions] to them.”

There are families and tribes, including major ones such as Al-Rawiyin, Al-Aniyin, Al-Karabla, Albu Mahal and Al-Salman, in the area that have ties by blood and marriage to those in Syria.


Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Feb-22/164145-iraq-border-town-ready-to-repay-debt-to-syrians.ashx#ixzz1nAchhGr4
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)