U.S. Cross-Border Raids Into Syria [View All]

[callady]

Syria accuses US of launching lethal raids over its borders
By Harry de Quetteville in Baghouz
(Filed: 29/10/2005)

Syria has accused the United States of launching lethal military raids into its territory from Iraq, escalating the diplomatic crisis between the two countries as the Bush administration seeks to step up pressure on President Bashar Assad's regime.

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The charge follows leaks in Washington that the US has already engaged in military raids into Syria and is contemplating launching special forces operations on Syrian soil to eliminate insurgent networks before they reach Iraq.

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But he warned that the increased blurring of battle lines between Iraq and Syria could turn a diplomatic stand-off between the two nations, playing out at the UN, into a fully fledged military confrontation. "It could escalate. With Syrian border guards getting shot, it could turn into a major issue."

In the Euphrates valley, however, the alleged cross-border fire fights are already a major issue. The Syrian military said that in May, in the divided village of Baghouz, which straddles the Syria-Iraq border about 350 miles north east of Damascus, Abdullah al-Hassake was manning a rundown concrete frontier outpost when he and fellow soldiers heard US helicopters.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/30/wsyria30.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/30/ixworld.html

Edward Walker, a former US ambassador to Egypt and Israel, who is now head of the Middle East Institute think tank, told the paper: "No one in the administration has any problem with acting tough on Syria; it is the one thing they all agree on.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17087490%255E31477,00.html