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| Iraq | |
| Iraq again denounces US attack on Syrian village | |
| 2008-11-13 | |
| DAMASCUS - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Wednesday repeated Baghdad's denunciation of a deadly US raid on a Syrian village that he said harmed relations between the neighbouring countries. "The Iraqi government rejects the American raid launched on Syrian territory. We were not informed about it, and we have asked that there be no repetition (of such attacks), which harm our relations with Syria," Zebari said after meeting President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. During a news conference with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem, he also repeiterated remarks made on Tuesday that Iraq would not serve as a base for attacks on its neighbours. "There will not be permanent bases of American forces in Iraq," he said. "Iraq will not serve as a base for aggression against its neighbours." Zebari was referring to an October 26 attack by helicopter-borne US soldiers, which Damascus said left eight people dead in a Syrian village near the Iraqi border. At the time Syria criticised Iraqi government comments justifying the raid and postponed a November 12-13 meeting of the Syrian-Iraqi high commission. Two days after the raid, government spokesman Ali al-Dabgagh said the "Iraqi government rejects the US helicopter strike on Syrian territory, considering that Iraq's constitution does not allow its land to be a base for launching attacks on neighbouring countries. "We call upon American forces not to repeat such activities and Baghdad has launched an investigation into the strike," he said. The United States said the raid was part of a campaign against foreign fighters operating in Iraq and that one of those killed was a "facilitator" of foreign fighters. On Wednesday, Muallem said "other means should have been used," and said that Syria would have responded to a United Nations request for action.
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| Posted by:Steve White |