SUKKARIYEH, Syria: Families in this dusty village near the Iraqi border buried loved ones yesterday who they said were killed when the US military launched a rare attack in Syrian territory. During the funeral procession, a crowd of angry residents shouted anti-American slogans and carried banners reading: “Down with Bush and the American enemy.” The Syrian government said four US military helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown on Sunday in Sukkariyeh about five miles inside the Syrian border.
A US military official in Washington confirmed on Sunday that special forces had conducted a raid in Syria that targeted the network of Al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq.
“We are taking matters into our own hands,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids. In Sukkariyeh, villager Jumaa Ahmad Hamad said he was walking on Sunday when he saw four helicopters, two of which landed.
“Shooting then started ringing for more than 10 minutes,” Hamad said yesterday. After the helicopters stopped firing and left the area, he and other villagers went to the site and discovered the bodies of his uncle, Dawoud Hamad, and four of his uncle’s sons, who he said were killed in the raid.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem told a news conference in London that US military raid inside Syria was an act of “criminal and terrorist aggression,” Syria’s foreign minister said yesterday and warned of retaliation if its borders were violated again.
If there was a repeat of the weekend raid, “we would defend our territories.” Meanwhile, Iraqi officials yesterday warned that a US military raid into Syria could be used by opponents of a security pact under negotiation with the US.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora also launched an scathing attack accusing the US military of an “unacceptable” violation of Syrian sovereignty over a raid Damascus says killed eight civilians. “The raid by US helicopters on Syrian territory... constitutes a violation of Syrian sovereignty and thus is a dangerous, unacceptable attack that we condemn,” said a statement from his office. “Any military attack against an Arab country or on a small country by a larger country is an act we reject,” it added.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa also condemned the US raid in Syria on Sunday, describing it as “a violation of Syrian sovereignty.” Moussa told reporters at the League’s headquarters that the US action did not help stability in the already volatile region.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi told reporters yesterday that a violation of the territorial integrity of any sovereign state is unacceptable.
