DAMASCUS, 1 July 2003 — Syria said yesterday the United States had handed over five Syrian soldiers held by US forces since a US raid near its border with neighboring Iraq earlier this month.
In Washington, one official speaking on condition of anonymity said US officials had ruled out that the border guards had sought to aid a fleeing Iraqi convoy, and had no reason to question them any longer. “There was no indication that they were complicit,” the official said.
Pentagon officials said the five border guards were turned over to Syrian authorities on Sunday morning.
US and Syrian officials did not say how the guards were wounded or whether the incident took place in Syrian territory.
“In response to the protest presented by the Foreign Ministry after the military incident that took place at the Syrian Iraqi border...the American side handed over the five Syrian soldiers to the Syrian side,” a Syrian statement said.
The five Syrian soldiers were seized earlier this month when US special forces raided a convoy believed then to be carrying aides of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein near Syria’s Bukmal post on the border with Iraq. Syria shares a 600-kilometer long border with Iraq.
“The United States described the incident as unfortunate and accidental,” said the Syrian statement quoting a spokesman who said the handover took place at the Syrian-Iraqi border.
The soldiers were taken to hospital for further treatment, the statement said without elaborating on their condition.
US officials have said three of the five soldiers received medical attention at a US Army facility in Baghdad, while the other two were treated in the field for minor wounds.
