US Special Forces raid Syria, kill 8

[Stax]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/US-Helicopters-Attack-A-Syrian-Border-Point-With-Iraq-Killing-Eight-People/Article/200810415129094?lpos=World_News_News_Your_Way_Regi on_9&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15129094_US_Helicopters_At tack_A_Syrian_Border_Point_With_Iraq%2C_Killing_Ei ght_People

Four US military helicopters flying along the Euphrates River struck an area of farms and factories about five miles inside Syria's border, the Syrian government said.

They attacked a civilian building under construction, firing on the workers inside and killing a man and his four children, and a married couple, the government added.

Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said Sky sources believe two of the four helicopters landed and 10 US special forces got off to storm the building.

A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the raid was targeting "elements of the Syrian military in league with al Qaeda and other fighters".

While US forces have had considerable success in shutting down the "rat lines" in Iraq, the Syrian part of the network has been out of reach, he added.

The US and Iraqi governments blame Syria for not doing enough to stop anti US rebels, including al Qaeda fighters, from infiltrating over the border.

The Syrian government has condemned the attack and summoned the US and Iraqi envoys in Damascus.

The official SANA news agency quoted a Syrian official as saying: "Syria condemns and denounces this act of aggression and US forces will bear the responsibility for any consequences.

"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."

Marshall said the attack would cause "a flap between the three countries" but expected the situation to "die down".

"Syria is not in the mood to make trouble despite having its territory violated," he said.

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

In August, Washington approved similar special forces raids across the border of Pakistan to target al Qaeda and Taliban operatives.

Yowza. Hope we aren't looking at a lame-duck Laos/Cambodia type thing. Also (in political terms) undercuts another one of McCain's arguments against Obama (the bit where Obama said he'd go into Pakistan to get Al-Qaeda folks).

[Claydon]

hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

yah im going to wait for more details before believing the whole 'civilian and 4 of his children' at a construction site.

[Stax]

Here's the AP story:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ianwYiLFrnJxFSAgjT1DqydYeinQD942EFR80

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as "serious aggression."

A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the foreign fighter network that travels through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area because Syria was out of the military's reach.

"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.

The attack came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

A Syrian government statement said the helicopters attacked the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside, the statement said.

The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children.

A resident of the nearby village of Hwijeh said some of the helicopters landed and troops exited the aircraft and fired on a building. He said the aircraft flew along the Euphrates River into the area of farms and several brick factories. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information,

Syria's Foreign Ministry said it summoned the charges d'affaires of the United States and Iraq to protest against the strike.

"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions. Syria also calls on the Iraqi government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch and immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria," the government statement said.

The area targeted 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 travelers making their way home across the border reported hearing many explosions, said Farhan al-Mahalawi, mayor of Qaim.

On Thursday, U.S. Maj. Gen. 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."

"The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side," Kelly said. "We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement."

He added that the U.S. was helping construct a sand berm and ditches along the border.

"There hasn't been much, in the way of a physical barrier, along that border for years," Kelly said.

The foreign fighters network sends militants from North Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East to Syria, where elements of the Syrian military are in league with al-Qaida and loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, the U.S. military official said.

He said that while American forces have had considerable success, with Iraqi help, in shutting down the "rat lines" in Iraq, and with foreign government help in North Africa, the Syrian node has been out of reach.

"The one piece of the puzzle we have not been showing success on is the nexus in Syria," the official said.

The White House in August approved similar special forces raids from Afghanistan across the border of Pakistan to target al-Qaida and Taliban operatives. At least one has been carried out.

The flow of foreign fighters into Iraq has been cut to an estimated 20 a month, a senior U.S. military intelligence official told the Associated Press in July. That's a 50 percent decline from six months ago, and just a fifth of the estimated 100 foreign fighters who were infiltrating Iraq a year ago, according to the official.

Ninety percent of the foreign fighters enter through Syria, according to U.S. intelligence. Foreigners are some of the most deadly fighters in Iraq, trained in bomb-making and with small-arms expertise and more likely to be willing suicide bombers than Iraqis.

Foreign fighters toting cash have been al-Qaida in Iraq's chief source of income. They contributed more than 70 percent of operating budgets in one sector in Iraq, according to documents captured in September 2007 on the Syrian border. Most of the fighters were conveyed through professional smuggling networks, according to the report.

Iraqi insurgents seized Qaim in April 2005, forcing U.S. Marines to recapture the town the following month in heavy fighting. The area became secure only after Sunni tribes in Anbar turned against al-Qaida in late 2006 and joined forces with the Americans.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem accused the United States earlier this year of not giving his country the equipment needed to prevent foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq. He said Washington feared Syria could use such equipment against Israel.

Though Syria has long been viewed by the U.S. as a destabilizing country in the Middle East, in recent months, Damascus has been trying to change its image and end years of global seclusion.

Its president, Bashar Assad, has pursued indirect peace talks with Israel, mediated by Turkey, and says he wants direct talks next year. Syria also has agreed to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon, a country it used to dominate both politically and militarily, and has worked harder at stemming the flow of militants into Iraq.

The U.S. military in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request for comment after Sunday's raid.

[Claydon]

Given the tagging system US special forces has been using I feel somewhat confident in supporting this strike by US forces in so far as these militia types tend to hid amongst civilians anyways. Furthermore one could and rightfully argue that if civilians are assisting them then they themselves are targets. Not unlike the bombing of cities in WW2 since the civilian population was involved in the military machine.

[Stax]

So long as this wasn't a major fuck-up and there was at least some al-Qaeda involvement I don't mind the target, it just makes me lulz every time one of the Republican arguments against Obama is undercut by their own actions.

[Le Goat]

8 down... how many more a-rabs left?

[Archangel]

So national sovereignty and borders only matter when they're American?

[Claydon]

So national sovereignty and borders only matter when they're American?

Sovereignty is usually defined as an area that a government controls the laws, controls its own border, and can distribute money and collect taxes. None of which applies to these areas of syria. Those areas have been porous for years and the Syrians have been asked so many fucking times to get these groups under control. In all likelihood the Syrian military has been involved with the funneling of people and weapons into Iraq. Now, if Syria is really attempting to seek peace with israel via turkey as a mediator perhaps they will take the border situation a bit more seriously.

[Das Kahlua]

So national sovereignty and borders only matter when they're American?

Aren't you half German and half Korean?

Just asking, because apparently sovereignty and borders apparently didn't matter to your parents, either.

[BIG PIZZLE]

I wonder how many millions of dollars was spent to kill 8 people.

[Archangel]

Aren't you half German and half Korean?

Just asking, because apparently sovereignty and borders apparently didn't matter to your parents, either.

Did you really just compare fucking someone from a different country to illegally bombing a sovereign nation-state?

[Limp]

Did you really just compare fucking someone from a different country to illegally bombing a sovereign nation-state?
Who is fucking someone from a different country?

[Archangel]

My dad did, obviously. I do, too, as often as possible,

[Phil Theehor]

Aren't you half German and half Korean?

Just asking, because apparently sovereignty and borders apparently didn't matter to your parents, either.


That's perhaps the douchiest comment I have seen on the new board.

Were you speaking to cross-national fertilization or the German penchant for trying to take over the world every once in a while?

[Archangel]

It might make sense if my mom was (Heaven forbid) Polish or (even worse) French...

[Angry Ass Messican Dude]

Doesn't look to me like it was a bombing, nor to bullets cost millions of dollars so if we add in fuel I bet it only cost 20 grand to kill 8 people. But that was just the chopper pilots doing that.

I'm sure the SF guys laid that tunnel to waste.

[Archangel]

Dunno, those 30mm shells aren't exactly cheap.


Do they still use depleted uranium?