Mon, Jun 06, 2005 - Page 7 News List

Hundreds of Iraqi refugees in Syria find themselves strangers in a strange land

ABANDONED Many Iraqis who helped US forces in their home country fled to Syria to protect themselves and their families from being targeted as ``collaborators''

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , Damascus

Binyamin Shamoon, 36, who came to Damascus in August last yea, said he quit his job as a laundry worker at a US base in Baghdad after he received an anonymous letter that contained a threat to bomb his house.

The letter had stipulated only that he give up his job, but Shamoon said he did not feel safe until he brought his family to Syria.

"We would like to go to the US," Shamoon said. "But there is no program that helps us. This seems strange to me. It's because of our work with the Americans that we had to flee our country."

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