Syria protests against U.S. helicopters attack
gar | 27.10.2008 09:24
DAMASCUS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Syria on Sunday summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires to Damascus and protested against a U.S. helicopters attack on its civilians earlier in the day.
Eight Syrian civilians were killed in a U.S. helicopters attack in a Syrian farm near its border with Iraq on Sunday afternoon, according to the official SANA news agency.
Eight Syrian civilians were killed in a U.S. helicopters attack in a Syrian farm near its border with Iraq on Sunday afternoon, according to the official SANA news agency.
the hit
http://garizo.blogspot.com/2008/10/syria-protests-against-us-helicopters.html DAMASCUS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Syria on Sunday summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires to Damascus and protested against a U.S. helicopters attack on its civilians earlier in the day.
Eight Syrian civilians were killed in a U.S. helicopters attack in a Syrian farm near its border with Iraq on Sunday afternoon, according to the official SANA news agency. "Syria condemns and denounces this act of aggression and holds the U.S. forces responsible for this aggression and its repercussions," an official was quoted as saying. Syrian deputy foreign minister summoned the charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Damascus, informing him of Syria's condemnation and complaint of this dangerous aggression, holding the U.S. administration fully responsible for it, said the report. Meanwhile, Syria summoned the Iraqi charge d'affaires for the same purpose, demanding Iraq to prevent the use of its territory to attack Syria.
"Syria also demands the Iraqi government to assume its responsibilities and make an immediate investigation into this dangerous violation and prevent the use of the Iraqi lands from launching aggression on Syria," SANA said. "Four U.S. military helicopters violated the Syrian airspaces at 4:45 p.m. (1345 GMT) in al-Boukamal, 8 km deep at the al-Sukariah farm," an official media source was quoted as saying. Al-Boukamal is a main border crossing from Syria to Iraq. "The four helicopters launched aggression on a civilian building under construction and opened fire against the workers inside the building, among them the wife of the building's guard," said the source. The attack killed eight citizens and wounding one and the U.S. helicopters then left for the Iraqi lands, added the source. SANA identified the eight killed citizens as Daoud Mohammad al-Abdullah and his four sons, Ahmad Khalefa, Ali Abbas and his wife. An earlier report by the independent Damaspost website put the death toll at seven with four injured.
Damaspost also said four U.S. helicopters were involved in the attack, adding that two of the helicopters landed in the town while the others remained in the sky. Eight U.S. soldiers disembarked and opened fire against a group of construction workers, killing seven and injured four, said Damaspost. Damaspost quoted hospital sources as saying that seven bodies and four wounded persons were sent to the hospital and they all suffered gunshot wounds.
Syria has been blacklisted by Washington as a sponsor of terrorism and under continuous U.S. isolation. Syria's icy relations with Washington, starting in 2003 when Damascus strongly objected the U.S. war on Iraq, became more tense following the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in Feb. 2005, after which Washington withdrew its ambassador to Syria Margaret Scobey and never sent her back. The U.S. has been accusing Syria of not doing enough to stop anti-U.S. militants and weapons from entering Iraq and destabilizing situations there. Last month, U.S. President George W. Bush slammed Syria and Iran for allegedly continuing to sponsor terror in a speech to the UN General Assembly's annual general debate. "A few nations -- regimes like Syria and Iran -- continue to sponsor terror, yet their numbers are growing fewer and they're growing more isolated from the world," Bush said.
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Syria says helicopters attack border point with Iraq
http://garizo.blogspot.com/2008/10/syria-says-helicopters-attack-border.html DAMASCUS: Syria said on Sunday unidentified helicopters attacked a Syrian border point with Iraq, causing casualties. The official Syrian news agency SANA did not identify the helicopters but said the attack took place in the Bou Kamal border area, in eastern Syria. Residents said the attack targeted a house in the area in which a man and his four sons and two nearby workers were killed.
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Don't believe Syrian totalitarian propaganda
27.10.2008 21:48
DEBKAfile Special Report
October 27, 2008, 11:03 PM (GMT+02:00)
Syrian TV shows fire and bloodstains at Sukkariya
Syrian TV shows fire and bloodstains at Sukkariya
A US counterterrorism official said Monday, Oct. 27, that American special forces killed the head of a Syrian network that funneled fighters, weapons and cash in to Iraq when they raided Abu Kemal 7 km inside Syria Sunday. The unnamed official said the raid targeted the home of Abu Ghadiyah, leader of a key cell of foreign fighters in Iraq. A villager said the US force grabbed two men and took them away by helicopter when they flew back to Iraq.
An American military official said earlier that the cross-border raid by helicopter-borne special forces at al Sukkariya near Abu Kemal in N. Syria Sunday, Oct. 26 targeted “the foreign fighter network” that travels through Syria into Iraq. In the first US comment on the incident, the anonymous spokesman hinted at more cross-border action when he said: “We are taking matters in our own hands.”
He spoke shortly after Damascus summoned the US and Iraqi envoys to protest the “serious aggression” in which 8 “civilians, including children” were killed and 14 wounded.
Three days earlier, US commander in western Iraq, Maj. Gen. John Kelly, called the Syrian border “an uncontrolled gateway” for fighters entering Iraq. He described the borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan as “fairly tight” and referred to US forces’ success in shutting down the “rat lines” in Iraq with help from governments in North Africa. “The one piece of the puzzle where we have not shown success on is the nexus in Syria,” Gen. Kelly said.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report he was referring to help from the Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian governments, as well as Western Europe countries hosting large North African migrants, in drying up the stream of al Qaeda’s recruits for Iraq. However, Syrian president Bashar Assad has frustrated years of US effort to shut down the network operating out of his territory.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report: This was not the first US military incursion of Syria. Previous US strikes on Syrian soil in 2004 and 2005 targeted al Qaeda exit points to Iraq and involved bombardments and clashes with Syrian border units.
These US attacks were discontinued for three years. Sunday’s operation was an extension of the US-Iraqi offensive to purge the northern Iraqi town of Mosul and northern Syria of al Qaeda elements, the jihadists’ last two strong bastions in the region.
According to eye witnesses, 8 US troops dropped by at least 2 helicopters stormed a farm house in Sukkariya and killed 8 people before flying back to Iraq. Damascus announced it held US forces responsible for “this aggression and all its repercussions.” It called on the Iraqi government to launch an immediate investigation into “this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria."
Al Qaeda fighters recently captured by the US military in and around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul revealed the unabated flow of arms, fighters, cash and explosives from Syria to Iraq. The discovery belied Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem’s assurance to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice when they met in New York in September that Damascus had halted this traffic.
Abu Kemal is located opposite the al Qaim region of Iraqi Anbar. For most of the five-year Iraq war, it was al Qaeda’s main logistics base for the jihadists fighting in Anbar. Recently this province, finally cleared of terrorists, was handed over to Iraqi forces. Washington is determined not to allow the Syria rat line to destroy one of the great US achievements of the war.
Asked if the incident was compatible with Israel’s talks with Syria, Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni commented: Damascus must stop aiding al Qaeda as well two other terrorist groups, Hizballah and Hamas. DEBKAfile’s political sources note that the northern Syrian operation bears strongly on the US presidential campaign 10 days before voting. Both candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, will no doubt comment and if the attacks continue and meet with Syrian reprisal, they could become a focal campaign theme.
US cross-border incursions from Afghanistan firing missiles from drones at Taliban and al Qaeda havens in Pakistan are ongoing. The latest attack took place Sunday night killing up to 20 insurgents.
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