Syria hands over Saudis caught on way to Iraq

RIYADH - Syria has handed over to Saudi Arabia more than 30 Saudis who were trying to cross into Iraq, Saudi Arabia's Interior Minister Prince Nayef said.

Syria has been pressure from the United States to stop foreign fighters from crossing its border into Iraq to join a two-year insurgency targeting US forces there and the government they helped create.

"We've recently received more than 30 Saudis," Prince Nayef told the official Saudi Press Agency and state television. He said the kingdom did not know how many Saudis were in Iraq.

Analysts say hundreds of Saudi fighters, possibly thousands, have gone to Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Saudi Arabia, which has tightened border security with Iraq, says those numbers are exaggerated.

Earlier this month, Safar al-Hawali, an influential Saudi religious scholar who backed an anti-US "jihad" in Iraq, said resisting an enemy occupying a Muslim country was legitimate, but no one from outside Iraq had the right to participate.

Hawali and other prominent Saudi religious scholars issued a statement in November calling on Iraqis to unite and expel the "colonial alliance" from their country, saying jihad (holy war or struggle) against US-led occupation forces was a duty.

Saudi newspapers regularly report news of families accepting condolences for sons killed in Iraq and researchers say Saudis make up the majority of foreign fighters and suicide bombers killed there.

- REUTERS