Palestinians in Lebanon Being Paid by Russia to Fight in Ukraine

Many of the recruits are reportedly members of Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction.

By JNS | | Topics: palestinians, Ukraine
A nine-story residential building on Bohatyrska Street in Kyiv after shelling as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on March 14, 2022. Credit: State Emergency Service of Ukraine via Wikimedia Commons.
A nine-story residential building on Bohatyrska Street in Kyiv after shelling as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on March 14, 2022. Credit: State Emergency Service of Ukraine via Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS) Palestinians living in Lebanon are being paid $350 per month by Russia to fight on its behalf in the war in Ukraine, according to The Media Line.

Citing a Lebanese government source, the report said that most of those enlisting were born after 1969. This is because Beirut restricts them from obtaining official registration documents—they are considered perpetual “refugees”—thereby making it easier for them to travel to fight as mercenaries.

The majority are being deployed to Ukraine are from Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, located just south of the port city of Sidon, according to the report.

Some 200,000 Palestinian descendants of those who fled Israel during the 1948 war currently live in Lebanon and are considered refugees according to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s unique definition that applies only to them and no other group.

Many of the recruits are reportedly members of Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction, but also hail from groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a US-designated terrorist group.

The Lebanese source said that the recruitment of Palestinians and others is being carried out by activists affiliated with the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Beirut in coordination with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror organization.

Those being enlisted are reportedly skilled at operating drones or have experience in urban combat.

According to the report, some 300 Palestinians in Lebanon have already completed rapid training in Russia and been deployed to the frontl in Ukraine.

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