DAMASCUS: US military helicopters attacked an area along Syria’s border with Iraq yesterday, killing at least nine people, Syrian state TV and witnesses said.
The television report quoted unnamed Syrian officials and said the area is near the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal.
Local residents told The Associated Press by telephone that two helicopters carrying US soldiers raided a farm in Hwijeh village, 17 km inside Syria’s border, killing nine people and wounding five others. One of the witnesses said five of the dead were from a single family.
Other eyewitness accounts said that four helicopters were involved in the operation, with two of the helicopters landing in the town and eight American soldiers disembarking.
The residents refused to allow their names to be given because they feared they would be harassed by authorities.
Doctors in the town of Al-Sukkariya, some 8 km from the Iraqi border, said seven corpses and four wounded had been brought to a nearby clinic after the attack.
The US military in Baghdad had no immediate comment. If confirmed, it would be the first time that US forces had carried out an attack on Syrian soil.
In Beirut, Lebanese media said Syrian Brig. Gen. Jamaa Jamaa is in charge of the Abu Kamal border region. The area 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 insurgents seized Qaim in April 2005, forcing US Marines to recapture the town the following month in heavy fighting. The area became secure only after Sunni tribes in Anbar turned against Al-Qaeda in late 2006 and joined forces with the Americans.
A senior Israeli military official earlier accused Syria of arming Hezbollah in violation of a UN Security Council resolution which ended the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese group.
“Syria has become Hezbollah’s arms warehouse,” military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin told minister during the Israeli Cabinet’s weekly meeting, according to another senior official.
