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Reply With Quotetruly preplexing..... america is indirectly improving ties between syria and iran
US forces kill eight in helicopter raid on Syria
* Ian Black, Middle East editor and Ewen MacAskill in Washington
* The Guardian,
* Monday October 27 2008
American helicopters flying from Iraq landed inside Syria yesterday and dropped special forces who killed eight people, the Damascus government said last night, as Washington admitted it had targeted "foreign fighters."
Syria warned that it held the US "wholly responsible for this act of aggression and all its repercussions".
It described the dead as Syrian civilians, five of them members of the same family. Syrian state television reported that the attack was against a farm near Abu Kamal, five miles from the Iraqi border. Doctors in nearby al-Sukkariya said another seven people were taken to hospital with bullet wounds.
The incident threatened to unleash a new wave of anti-American feeling in Syria and across the Middle East at a time when President Bashar al-Assad, already being courted by Europe, is looking forward to improved relations with Washington after the November 4 presidential election. News of the attack led bulletins across the Arab world last night - suggesting it will have wide resonance.
Syria summoned the US charge d'affaires in Damascus to explain the incident. It also called on the Iraqi government to prevent its airspace being used in this way in future.
Eyewitness accounts said eight US soldiers landed in two helicopters and that the dead were building workers. A senior Syrian source quoted by the official Sana news agency, said four helicopters violated Syrian airspace and described the target as a "civilian building under construction".
In Washington an unnamed military official told the Associated Press the raid had targeted elements of a "foreign fighter logistics network", and that, due to Syrian inaction, the US was "taking matters into our own hands". It was the first known American attack on Syrian soil.
Intriguingly, Farhan al-Mahalawi, mayor of the nearby Iraqi border town of Qaim, told the Reuters news agency that the targeted village had been surrounded by Syrian troops.
In Israel, a security official said Israel was not involved. Last year Israel destroyed an alleged nuclear site in northern Syria. Qaim has been a significant crossing point for foreign fighters, weapons and money entering Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.
Only last Thursday, the commander of US forces in western Iraq told reporters American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border. Major General 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".
Thabet Salem, a political analyst, told al-Jazeera TV that the US appeared to have mistaken building workers for infiltrators. "It will raise questions as to why this is happening towards the end of the current US administration," he said.
Late last year the then US commander, General David Petraeus, praised Syria's cooperation in reducing violence in Iraq. But Syria has since refused to restart intelligence sharing with the US until Washington recognises its assistance by returning an ambassador to Damascus.
Joshua Landis, an American expert on Syria, commented last night: "The Bush administration must assume that an Obama victory will force Syria to behave nicely in order to win favour with the new administration. Thus White House analysts may assume that it can have a "freebee" - taking a bit of personal revenge on Syria without the US paying a price."
The attack comes as Syria takes another step in from the cold today when its foreign minister, Walid al-Mualim, visits London to hear praise for its newly conciliatory policies in Lebanon - and to be urged to distance itself from Iran.
In recent months Syria has established diplomatic relations with Lebanon and held several rounds of indirect talks with Israel, with Turkey acting as broker. In July, President Assad was invited to an EU summit in Paris.
truly preplexing..... america is indirectly improving ties between syria and iran
If the U.S. sent helos and troops across the border into Syria there was a target value. I have read several different versions of the headlines that accuse the US of attacking a farmhouse and the workers inside. Do you think the US would take such risks to kill your normal working man? Why was this farmhouse being monitored by Syrian troops? Maybe handing out free lunch and beers? IMO there is much more behind this story thats not going to be admitted by Syria. And notice Syria didnt eject the US embassador. Other countries have done just that for much less then this so this should tweak ones interests.
Last edited by Dreadnought; 27 Oct 08, at 14:40.
Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.
i was surprised
i didn't heard any thing at least one moth before to consider as an intro !!!
uhm as far as I know there is NO U.S. embassador in Syria. What is actual the reason for declining relationship in the last month. Syria had started sharing intel on Insurgents crossing the Iraq-Syrian border but stopped after the US declined to (re)send an Embassador to Syria. But don't take this statement for 100% sure, it has been a while since I read those reports.Originally Posted by Dreadnought
uh I might be wrong
You could be right Tarek:
Syria summoned the US charge d'affaires in Damascus to explain the incident. It also called on the Iraqi government to prevent its airspace being used in this way in future.
Normally from what the recent past has shown the particular person named above as charge d'affaires would be the first to carry the message back to the US of any ambassador or equated person being ejected from the country.
However the presence of Syrian troops at this same location would lead one to believe that this was not an innocent farmhouse nor farmworkers. One media says a family was killed and another states seven men and one woman killed. Something certainly don't add up about this event.
Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.
But why attacking now? Iraq has never been calmer, Syria is actually trying to make peace with the West and they choose this particular moment to strike?
One suggestion I heart was that this timing was chosen because it was the "last chance" before the election. Whoever wins, Syria will most likely try (at least in the beginning) to have warmer relationships with the new president. and if they want this to succed they can't hold their grudge about this event (whatever its nature turns out to be) to the next president.
currently Syria is giving a press conference but I don't understand of whatever he is trying to say. (Except for "aggression, aggression")
uh I might be wrong
Which is exactly why something seems missing here.
Facts to a liberal is like Kryptonite to Superman.
-- Larry Elder
Let us keep in mind that this border crossing has been the absolute worst for insurgent crossing with cash, guns and foreign fighters. Syria is linked to Hezbollah and Hezbollah it was admitted is being armed by Iranian forces.
Iran and Syria dont need close ties, they have had them for quite some time now.
Iranian general reports arming 'liberation armies'
http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20081027/D942QIVO0.html
Which intern will move the U.S. closer to confrontation with Iran.
Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.
There may not be an Ambassador however the do have a diplomat:
US embassy sources in Beirut said on Sunday evening that a US diplomat in Damascus was called in to the Syrian foreign ministry over the reported incident of a US military raid inside Syria.
The sources said US charge d'affaires in Damascus, Maura Connelly, was summoned to the foreign ministry which issued a protest over the raid.
Lebanese sources meanwhile said the US commando forces had stormed a building suspected of harbouring fundamentalist militants preparing to infiltrate into Iraq.
Well but since they want the us to send an Ambassador, ejecting the diplomat would somewhat go against this wish.
(uh stupid question, but is it really ambassador and embassy? not embassador? Would somehow make more sense..but well I'm Bavarian, what do I know *g*)
uh I might be wrong
Yeah, ambassador and embassy's right.
The timing is what I find odd on this.
There was no propaganda lead up to this that I heard. The US has made noises in the past few years about Syria supporting terrorists, how foreign fighters cross the border there etc. Yet, I have heard exactly nothing about that for months, if not years. Normally at least something is put out by the administration before an action of this kind. That has been a sketchy border for some time; why choose now, when Iraq is relatively stable to launch an attack of this sort?
And of course we are just a week away from the US election. Did this play a role? If so; what? I can't even speculate on this.
Final question- is this a one time shot, or does it indicate the US will treat Syria as a sort of Pakistan, launching raids when it suits them? Syria would certainly be less tolerant of such raids than Pakistan, but also not terribly able to do much about them. But everyone seems to be keeping quiet about it now, I wonder if this will turn into anything bigger.
Smells like napalm, tastes like chicken!
Ambassador or Embassador..either is correct
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