US helicopter-borne troops have carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border, killing eight people including a woman, Syrian authorities say.
The official Syrian news agency Sana said the raid took place in the Abu Kamal border area, in eastern Syria. It said that American soldiers on four helicopters had stormed a building under construction on Sunday night.
The US says it is investigating. It has previously accused Syria of allowing foreign militants into Iraq.
The Syrian foreign ministry summoned the US envoy in Damascus to protest at the raid. A government official told Sana: "Syria condemns this aggressive act and holds American forces responsible for this aggression and all of its repercussions."
Official media said the Iraqi envoy had also been summoned.
If confirmed, the raid would be the first by US forces inside Syrian territory, says the BBC's Natalia Antelava.
"Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 16:45 local time (1345 GMT) on Sunday," Sana news agency said. It said that "American soldiers" who had emerged from helicopters "attacked a civilian building under construction and opened fire on workers inside - including the wife of the building guard - leading to [the deaths] of eight civilians".
The dead included a man and his four children and a married couple. "The helicopters then left Syrian territory towards Iraqi territory," Sana said.
It named the village as Sukkiraya, 8km (5 miles) from the Iraqi border.
A US military spokesman couldn't confirm or deny the reports. He said: "It's a developing situation."
The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money travelling into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency. Washington has accused Damascus of turning a blind eye to the problem.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: john frum ||
10/26/2008 17:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11184 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well, Syria has violated Lebanese, Israeli, and Iraqi sovereignty. Suck it up, assholes. Wanna play in the bigs? Don't whine
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 17:04 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Just in time for election day. Wonder if they think this will help The Messiah?
#7
Iranian agents caught/killed in Iraq, raids in Syria, and another drone attack in talibanistan, operational tempo is quickening. Maybe want to get some things done before Obama the wussiah gets in.
#8
updated story, Via Drudge:
U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as "serious aggression."
A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the foreign fighter network that travels through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area because Syria was out of the military's reach.
"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.
The attack came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.
A Syrian government statement said the helicopters attacked the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside, the statement said.
The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children.
A resident of the nearby village of Hwijeh said some of the helicopters landed and troops exited the aircraft and fired on a building. He said the aircraft flew along the Euphrates River into the area of farms and several brick factories. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information,
Syria's Foreign Ministry said it summoned the charges d'affaires of the United States and Iraq to protest against the strike.
"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions. Syria also calls on the Iraqi government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch and immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria," the government statement said.
The area targeted is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.
Iraqi travelers making their way home across the border reported hearing many explosions, said Farhan al-Mahalawi, mayor of Qaim.
On Thursday, U.S. Maj. Gen. John Kelly said Iraq's western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries but that Syria was a "different story."
"The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side," Kelly said. "We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement."
He added that the U.S. was helping construct a sand berm and ditches along the border.
"There hasn't been much, in the way of a physical barrier, along that border for years," Kelly said.
The foreign fighters network sends militants from North Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East to Syria, where elements of the Syrian military are in league with al-Qaida and loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, the U.S. military official said.
He said that while American forces have had considerable success, with Iraqi help, in shutting down the "rat lines" in Iraq, and with foreign government help in North Africa, the Syrian node has been out of reach.
"The one piece of the puzzle we have not been showing success on is the nexus in Syria," the official said.
The White House in August approved similar special forces raids from Afghanistan across the border of Pakistan to target al-Qaida and Taliban operatives. At least one has been carried out.
The flow of foreign fighters into Iraq has been cut to an estimated 20 a month, a senior U.S. military intelligence official told the Associated Press in July. That's a 50 percent decline from six months ago, and just a fifth of the estimated 100 foreign fighters who were infiltrating Iraq a year ago, according to the official.
Ninety percent of the foreign fighters enter through Syria, according to U.S. intelligence. Foreigners are some of the most deadly fighters in Iraq, trained in bomb-making and with small-arms expertise and more likely to be willing suicide bombers than Iraqis.
Foreign fighters toting cash have been al-Qaida in Iraq's chief source of income. They contributed more than 70 percent of operating budgets in one sector in Iraq, according to documents captured in September 2007 on the Syrian border. Most of the fighters were conveyed through professional smuggling networks, according to the report.
Iraqi insurgents seized Qaim in April 2005, forcing U.S. Marines to recapture the town the following month in heavy fighting. The area became secure only after Sunni tribes in Anbar turned against al-Qaida in late 2006 and joined forces with the Americans.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem accused the United States earlier this year of not giving his country the equipment needed to prevent foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq. He said Washington feared Syria could use such equipment against Israel.
Though Syria has long been viewed by the U.S. as a destabilizing country in the Middle East, in recent months, Damascus has been trying to change its image and end years of global seclusion.
Its president, Bashar Assad, has pursued indirect peace talks with Israel, mediated by Turkey, and says he wants direct talks next year. Syria also has agreed to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon, a country it used to dominate both politically and militarily, and has worked harder at stemming the flow of militants into Iraq.
The U.S. military in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request for comment after Sunday's raid.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 19:21 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I'd consider it "message sent - message received" - your f'ing border proposity goes both ways, and if you won't willingly control it, we will. Pak 1.1 policy implemented to the west
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 19:26 Comments ||
Top||
(Chuck — the map gets posted as a box with a red x
Combining three different entries:
The Euphrates river flows through this area. The Iraqi town of al Qaim is right on the border. Americans have struck targets in this area before.
Also posted by TW & FrankG with comments from FrankG
Syria's state-run television and witnesses say U.S. military helicopters have attacked an area along the country's border with Iraq, causing casualties. among high value targets?
The report quoted unnamed Syrian officials and said the area is near the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal. It gave no other details on Sunday's attack.
Local residents told The Associated Press by telephone that two helicopters carrying U.S. soldiers raided the village of Hwijeh, 10 miles inside Syria's border, killing seven people and wounding five. amazing how local residents in targeted villages always have the AP's number handyThe U.S. military in Baghdad had no immediate comment.
Continued on Page 47
#2
thx Sherry. My comments were no more insightful than the usual RBers, but why would we being doing this (if we did, it is AP) unless there was a rewarding goal at the end? High-val target, or never happened?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 17:36 Comments ||
Top||
#3
So. How did some non-military (presumably) witnesses know these were US troops and aircraft?
Was this so routine there was no attempt to black out various identifiable markings? If so....
Or did it happen at all?
Or did the Israelis do it?
Or did the Syrians do it in order to create a "situation" of some kind?
To repeat, How did anybody know these were US troops?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/26/2008 18:57 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Now that more info has come out, it appears that the US WANTS the bad guys to know who they're facing.
Posted by: Herb Elmatch8158 ||
10/26/2008 22:01 Comments ||
Top||
#5
So. How did some non-military (presumably) witnesses know these were US troops and aircraft?
Richard, it was Snowy.. that's all I can say.
(Ich kann nicht ander no more sayen)
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 13:49 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Suppose he visited a nuke site and wanted to get close, real close to the material that would eventually either bring the Mahdi or bring down the infidels or destroy Israel or vindicate the Shia cause or....
Suppose the room wasn't cleaned that well and he inhaled.
On Drudge there was something (gone now) about Bush restoring relations with Iran before he leaves office.
It is pretty far fetched I admit, but maybe, and i repeat: maybe, there is a deal thingie going here and we just gave the right group the right nudge power, money, strippers, I don't really care witch, as long as assface just goes away.
I am getting mighty sick of looking at that uglie mut.
#7
mhw: nice, gives the scenario a nice " look mullah's look at the parts of the land & critcal state sectors that we control, now cooperate or die like assface twist.
#9
Ding dong the witch is ... well, at least he's sick. Considering how he's one of our main enemies you would think that this would make a mention on the front page news of some the illuminati press.
#10
The mullahcracy is our enemy, and Israel's, and the Iranian people's, not just this one man. If he should die before Iran's presidential election next June, the rhetoric might change, and perhaps some minor economic thingies, but nothing significant. Nor after the election, either.
#16
A-mahdi-jihad, much like Biden, is a gift for the way he says things out loud what his buddies would otherwise do quietly in the dark. He is much harder to ignore by westerners who otherwise would choose not to see what is going on. As a lightning rod he is almost indispensable.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/26/2008 19:05 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Mandrake!
Do you realize this is an American blog?
I can't shooooot it.
Well, I could I guess....
But you'll be answering to Fred Pruitt
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has fallen sick from exhaustion but the illness is not as serious as political opponents suggest, an Ahmadinejad ally told Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). "The president will eventually fully recover and will continue with his work, but the shame of this thing will be left forever for some people," Mohammad Esmail Kowsari said in the IRNA report.
The rumor that Ahmadinejad is seriously ill "is an old ploy aimed at influencing the elections" which are set for next June, Kowsari -- a member of Iran's parliament -- was quoted as saying. Kowsari called it "psychological warfare" aimed at creating division among fundamentalists who make up Ahmadinejad's political base.
Another IRNA report said President Ahmadinejad missed several events in recent days because of his illness. It quoted Mansour Borghei, an official at the president's office, saying Ahmadinejad "was feeling ill because of being overworked."
The Associated Press reported that the Iranian president, who turns 53 on Monday, attended a religious ceremony Saturday in Tehran, though he looked tired as he greeted supporters.
On Sunday, state TV also showed him receiving credentials of three foreign ambassadors, AP said.
The next few months are viewed as critical for Ahmadinejad if he wants to try to rebuild his political base and rebut critics who point to his unfulfilled campaign promises, including extending Iran's oil revenues to poorer provinces around the country.
Criticism over his management of the country -- at a time when the country's unemployment rate is sitting at around ten percent -- has increasingly come from his conservative supporters.
Ahmadinejad is also confronting questions about his defiant stance with the West over Iran's nuclear program, which has severely soured international relations.
Continued on Page 47
#1
Let us hope it's his HEART that is "exhausted", and he's not long for this world. If there's ever been anyone that deserves a seat in Hell, it's nutjob.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/26/2008 14:01 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Maybe he feels sick from the precipitous fall of the price of crude. He has come to the realization that he is in deep sh*t, and the billionaire MMs who have the money will not save his sorry a$$.
Maybe he realizes that he is going to be thrown under the bus instead of going to the well and saying howdy to the 12th Imam.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/26/2008 14:47 Comments ||
Top||
#3
he might be visiting that well, in an uncontrolled fall, when their economy craters this fall. Say hi to the Mahdi for us!
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 14:53 Comments ||
Top||
The chief of Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah denied on Saturday a report posted on an Iraqi website that he had been poisoned and then saved by Iranian doctors, calling it "psychological warfare" against his militia. "This information is totally unfounded," Hassan Nasrallah. "Just a little distress of the lower bowel..." Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11164 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has fallen sick from exhaustion but the illness is not as serious as political opponents suggest, an Ahmadinejad ally told Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). "The president will eventually fully recover and will continue with his work, but the shame of this thing will be left forever for some people," Mohammad Esmail Kowsari said in the IRNA report.
