ENRAGED by television images of the Iraq war, Fahd al-Mairi ran away from his Syrian home to join hundreds of Arab volunteers fighting American forces.

A month later, the 18-year-old schoolboy lies in hospital in Damascus, paralysed for life after being shot by US soldiers in the battle for Baghdad.

He faces a bleak future, but his bitterness is directed at Saddam’s supposedly elite Republican Guard. He calls them “traitors” for surrendering the city without a fight.

Mr al-Mairi watched coverage of the war on Arabic satellite channels and was angered by graphic footage of civilian casualties. “It made us furious to see so much suffering. As a Muslim, I felt that I had to help,” he told The Times. Ten days into the war, he and three schoolfriends from the town of Qsair agreed to join the volunteer fighters.

“None of us told our parents. I was afraid my father would stop me,” he said.

It took them two days to reach the Iraqi border. Syrian border police caught one of them as they scrambled over the bulldozed sand barrier that marks the frontier, but the rest kept running. Over the next five days they made their way to Baghdad, hitching rides with Iraqis.

“There were Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians. All of them felt like me. We wanted to fight the Americans,” he said.

They reached Baghdad as US troops entered the southern outskirts. As the bombs fell Mr al-Mairi was taken by Iraqi army officers to a series of military barracks and sports clubs. After two days, the volunteers were given AK47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade-launchers.

“They took us to a road bridge on a highway. There were 50 of us in my group and we positioned ourselves on one side of the bridge and waited for the Americans to arrive,” Mr al-Mairi said.

Hours later a US column of tanks and infantry backed by helicopters approached the opposite end of the bridge. “I cannot describe my feeling at that moment. I was very excited. I cared nothing for Saddam Hussein. I was there to defend the dignity and honour of my religion,” he said.

But as Mr al-Mairi brought his rocket-propelled grenade- launcher to his shoulder, his companions fled, leaving him alone with only two other volunteers.

“We refused to leave and instead fired our rockets at the Americans. We hit three tanks and some soldiers. I don’t know if they were killed or wounded,” he said.

His supply of rockets depleted, Mr al-Mairi picked up his rifle, but it jammed. “We crawled away, but as I stood to climb over a wall I felt three bullets hit me in the back. I fell to the ground and another bullet hit me in the leg.”

Mr al-Mairi was rescued ten minutes later by other volunteers and taken to hospital, where he learnt that one of the bullets had hit his spine, paralysing him from the waist down. As Baghdad fell, he was sent back to Syria by car.

His parents, who had no idea of their son’s whereabouts, were distraught when they learnt that he was paralysed. “His father hugged him and kissed him and was very sad,” Mahmoud al-Mairi, the wounded man’s uncle, said. “He had dreams and ambitions for his eldest son.”

Fahd al-Mairi said: “I was prepared to be a martyr. But I was shocked how easily Baghdad fell. The treason of the Republican Guard led to the collapse. I saw no Iraqi soldiers, except for the officers who told us where to go. All the fighting in Baghdad was by volunteers. If I had known that the Republican Guard would betray us, I would never have gone. If they had fought with courage and dignity alongside us, I could accept my injury.”

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