Syria Protests US Attacks

DAMASCUS: Syria protested to the U.S., saying American military helicopters carried out a raid yesterday on its territory bordering Iraq that killed nine people.

The Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. envoy in Damascus to protest “this dangerous aggression,'' Syria's state-run news agency reported.

U.S. government officials declined to comment on the issue.

The raid allegedly targeted a network of al- Qaeda-linked fighters using Syria to reach Iraq, a foreign news agency reported, citing a U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

While the state-run media said four U.S. helicopters, flying from Iraq, fired on a civilian building in the al-Boukamal region. Four children were among those killed, it said.

Syria “holds the U.S. forces responsible for this aggression and its repercussions,'' the news agency said.

Media named the dead and said they were a father and his four children, a couple and another man.

"The helicopters then left Syrian territory towards Iraqi territory," it said.

The news agency said one person was also wounded in the attack on the village of Al-Sukkiraya, around 550 kilometres (340 miles) northeast of the capital in the Abu Kamal area.

Earlier, the private television channel said nine civilians had been killed in the attack.

The raid appears to have been the first of its type into Syrian territory.

The U.S. has long pressed Syria to prevent fighters entering Iraq to join the Sunni-led insurgency. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last month the government in Damascus has slowed the flow, relations between Syria and the U.S. have “a long way to go.''

Syria summoned the US and Iraqi envoys to Damascus to protest against what it called a US military attack and to demand that Iraq prevent US forces from "launching aggression against Syria" from its territory, official media said.

"Syria condemns and denounces this act of aggression and US forces will bear the responsibility for any consequences," an unidentified official said.

"Syria also demands that the Iraqi government accept its responsibilities and launches an immediate inquiry following this dangerous violation and forbids the use of Iraqi territory to launch attacks on Syria," it said.

"We are in the process of investigating this" reported attack, Sergeant Brooke Murphy, a US military spokeswoman, told media in Baghdad.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman declined to comment. Commander Darryn James said there was "no response" from the US Department of Defence about the Syrian reports.

The Iraqi defence ministry also refused to comment, on the grounds the incident took place inside Syria.

US commanders say Syria is the main transit point for foreign jihadists crossing into Iraq. Washington has blamed Damascus for turning a blind eye to the problem.







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