U.S. Helicopters Attack Syria?
Posted on October 26, 2008
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.
Hot Air is gathering info…and point out there must have been some major urgency for this. Otherwise Bush wouldn’t have pulled the trigger so close to the election, when that makes the action such an easy target to be labled an October surprise meant to sway voters.
It occurs to me that life doesn’t stop just because there’s an American election. I wonder how much foreign fighters have thought they can get away with because the election is distracting or they don’t believe the President would risk being aggressive. This supposition is assuming the reports are true.
A very important target is what Bill Rogio is thinking:
The US has neither confirmed nor denied the operation took place. If the attack occurred, it would have been carried out by Task Force 88, the special operations hunt-killer teams assigned to target al Qaeda operatives as well as Shia terrorists in Iraq…
The US military may be closing in on al Qaeda’s senior leadership. US forces killed Abu Qaswarah, al Qaeda in Iraq’s second in command, during a raid in Mosul in northern Iraq on Oct. 15. The military has also killed and captured numerous al Qaeda leader and couriers over the past several weeks. The information obtained during these raids help to paint a picture of al Qaeda’s command structure inside of of Iraq as well as in neighboring countries.
Could be about a big fish. I’ll update when I know more.
You know what? We might as well do what needs to be done while we can still do it. If we get Obama for a president the military will be gutted and we will join the ranks of France and the appeasers of the U.N.
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8 Responses to “U.S. Helicopters Attack Syria?”
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Shrug. Attacking a sovereign country without pretext and without a declaration of war used to be a war crime.
Indeed. Al-qaeda should have declared war before taking down the Twin Towers, bombing the Pentagon and almost taking out the Capitol or White House. That would have made it all better.
Oh wait…they did do so back in 1996. And the Clinton administration did nothing. And for that 3,000+ had to die.
Gee, we may’ve bombed Syria. Huh, unless innocent civilians happened to be harmed in the process, I’m not seein’ a downside here.
“Attacking a sovereign country without pretext and without a declaration of war used to be a war crime.”
Yeah, it’s not like Syria is a terrorist-sponsoring dictatorship known for aiding in killing Americans, Israelis and anyone else they don’t like. Oh, wait. Well, so much for your point, then. Maybe next time you won’t jump to the defense of the bad guys.
“Shrug. Attacking a sovereign country without pretext and without a declaration of war used to be a war crime.”
Yeah, and accepting illegal campaign donations from overseas, credit card fraud, and falsified voter registrations used to be state and federal crimes. But, hey, that’s all irrelevant when you’re supporting The Messiah, right?
BIG shrug.
Props to Angela and MarkJ.
Terry – we killed 8 civilians, 4 of them children…within the borders of a country we have no business playing cowboy in.
“Yeah, it’s not like Syria is a terrorist-sponsoring dictatorship known for aiding in killing Americans, Israelis and anyone else they don’t like”
LOL, yea and USA is NOTHING like that.
Gustav Jindal have you taken your meds today? (ò¿ó)
A Military Family War Hero or muslin trick baby, that’s a no brainier fool (ò¿ó)
Gustav Jindal and what did you say about your mama? she worked what corner before you were born? (ò¿ó)
Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside.US forces killed Abu Qaswarah, al Qaeda in Iraq’s.