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DAMASCUS - United States military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack yesterday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the Government in Damascus condemned as "serious aggression".
A US military official said the raid by special forces targeted the network of al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area struck because Syria was out of the military's reach.
"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.
The attack came just days after the commander of US 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, 8km inside the Syrian border.
It said four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sunset local time and fired on workers inside.
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.
Another witness said four helicopters were used in the attack.
Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, there have been some instances in which American troops crossed areas of the 600km Syria-Iraq border in pursuit of militants, or warplanes violated Syria's airspace.
But yesterday's raid was the first conducted by aircraft and on such a large scale. In May 2005, Syria said American fire killed a border guard.
Syria's Foreign Ministry said it summoned the US and Iraqi charges d'affaires to protest against the strike.
"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions," the Government statement said.
"Syria also calls on the Iraqi Government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch an immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria."
Syrian state television footage showed bloodstains on the floor of a constructionsite.
Akram Hameed, one of the injured, told the television he was fishing in the Euphrates and saw four helicopters coming from the border area under a heavy blanket of fire.
"One of the helicopters landed in an agricultural area and eight members disembarked," the man in his 40s said.
"The firing lasted about 15 minutes and when I tried to leave the area on my motorcycle, I was hit by a bullet in the right arm about 20m away."
The injured wife of the building's guard, in bed in hospital with a tube in her nose, told Syria TV that two helicopters landed and two remained in the air during the attack.
"I ran to bring my child, who was going to his father, and I was hit," she said. The station did not identify her by name.
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 travellers making their way home across the border reported hearing many explosions, said Qaim Mayor Farhan al-Mahalawi.
The US military official said the foreign fighters' network sent militants from North Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East to Syria, where elements of the Syrian military were in league with al Qaeda and loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
He said that although American forces had 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 had 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.
Last Friday, US Major General 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 said the US was helping build a sand berm and ditches along the border.
AP
