By Abdel-Rahim Ali, IOL Staff

CAIRO, April 11 (IslamOnline.net) - As U.S. and British forces further fanned across Iraq, a host of Iraqi patriots vowed organized resistance by setting up a National Front for the Liberation of Iraq.

A statement entitled "Aggression Ends, Liberation Begins", a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net Friday, April 11, said the new Front comprises local representatives of armed groups and resistance brigades, some still manning positions in Iraq along with Arab volunteer fighters.

"Also, there are concerted efforts to add large numbers of Iraqi army soldiers, Republican Guard and Special Forces members to the Front," read the statement.

"Iraq may lose the war, but it would never surrender or die," underlined the statement.

As for the U.S. plans to install former army general Jay Garner in power in post-war Iraq, the Liberation Front underlined that the "Iraqi people will never allow this Zionist and Sharon-relative general to rule them."

Garner is due to take up the post of head of an interim administration for Iraq in the coming days.

He has stated political views in total support of Israel and his ties with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs have prompted accusations of Zionism from some Arab critics.

The former general has been regularly denounced by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for his views.

The Liberation Front branded as "Thief of Baghdad" Iraqi opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi, the Pentagon's favorite for the leadership of Iraq after the end of the occupation phase.

"Iraqis are against the likes of Chalabi who should be described as the 40 thieves," the statement said, referring to the persons invited by Washington for a conference on the future of Iraq.

The statement mentioned Adham al-Samra'y, the former Iraqi Military Intelligence chief, and Nizar Kharazzi, the former General Intelligence chief.

"They are agents for the CIA," it charged.

"All of the Front members share a common concern; feeling the bitterness of defeat at the hands of the occupation forces," said El-Rakabi

The U.S. has invited Iraqi opposition representatives to a meeting Tuesday, April 15, near Nasiriyah in southern Iraq.

The statement made clear that Iraqis would not accept "their territories to be distributed among the murderers, the invaders; or to be racially divided."

It carried the National Front for the Liberation of Iraq's determination to "liberate" Iraq and boot out the occupation forces.

"The Iraqi people should keep in mind that what happens in their country is reminiscent of the situation in Palestine, south Sudan,… the battle is common and the enemy is common," underlined the statement.

In a telephone interview with IslamOnline.net from Paris, Iraqi opposition member and columnist El-Amir el-Rakabi said reliable political sources told him the Front founders belong to some Islamic and nationalist trends in Iraq.

"The sources, who left Iraq on Thursday, told me that the Front was formed through intensive contacts shortly after the U.S. forces occupied Baghdad and the Iraqi regime fell," El-Rakabi said.

He said that "all of the Front members share a common concern; feeling the bitterness of defeat at the hands of the occupation forces."