JDEIDET YABOUS, Syria - Thousands of Syrians and Palestinians are lining up at the Syria-Lebanon border to welcome home the bodies of 114 Arab fighters returned last week in a prisoner swap with Israel.

Relatives of the dead are showering the coffins with rice and rose petals as black-clad Muslim women utter cries of joy, watching the convoy snake toward the Syrian capital Damascus for a burial ceremony later Wednesday.

The coffins have been wrapped in Palestinian and Syrian flags and covered with wreaths. They arrived at the border Wednesday after Hezbollah positively identified the fighters' remains in Beirut. -AP