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| Syria-Lebanon |
| Syria protests against US strike |
| 2003-06-26 |
| Syria says it has protested to the US Government over an American military strike thought to have been aimed at Saddam Hussein. The comment, made in the official Syrian Arab News Agency on Wednesday - nearly a week after the event occurred - was the first from Damascus. Took them long enough The Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the US ambassador to Damascus, Theodore Kattouf, to protest and demand the return of five Syrian soldiers wounded in the incident. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed on Tuesday that the US was treating five Syrian border guards. But he declined to say whether US forces had entered Syria during the strike which was carried out by special forces backed by aircraft. Syria said it had demanded the US hand over "the wounded soldiers to continue their treatment at a Syrian hospital to avoid any misunderstanding that might lead to an escalation that both sides do not desire". "Don't make me angry. You won't like..... Ouch, stop that!" It added that it was still waiting for the "clarification" — diplomatic parlance for an explanation — it had requested of Ambassador Kattouf. Sana said it took place at a border post near the town of Abu Kamal, on the border with Iraq. The target was reportedly a convoy thought to have been carrying deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and one of his sons. Mr Rumsfeld did not explain how the Syrians came to be injured in the US attack, or whether a cross-border attack had been authorised by Washington. "I'm not going to get into what the Syrians have done and what they haven't done," Mr Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing. "We don't discuss the rules of engagement... Borders are, you know, not always distinct in life." I'd say that was clear..as mud. Wonder what happened? |
| Posted by:Steve |