The strike that shattered US-Syria ties: the "American massacre"

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JJ29Ak02.html

The strike that shattered US-Syria ties
By Sami Moubayed

DAMASCUS - Strained relations between Washington and Damascus shifted from bad to worse on Sunday when a United States commando raid on a Syrian border compound near the Iraq border reportedly left eight civilians dead - including one woman. Syrian television has called the attack an "American massacre", but details continue to emerge.

The US broke its silence on the incident on Tuesday, claiming that top al-Qaeda operative Abu Ghadiyah was targeted and killed during what is being described in Western media as a pre-emptive strike. The Associated Press, quoting an unnamed US military official, reported that Ghadiyah was about to carry out an attack in Iraq. Ghadiyah, whose real name is Badran Turki Hishan Al

Mazidih, is the leader a prolific network that moves foreign al-Qaeda fighters into underground resistance factions in war-torn Iraq.

The attack came days after a top US commander in Iraq told reporters that US troops bolstering their presence on the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

The unconfirmed details and unquestionable tragedy of the raid have left once-promising US-Syria ties in tatters. Top officials in Damascus have blasted the "cowboy" tactics of US forces, and Syrian public opinion has become vociferously anti-American.

The so-called "massacre" won't lead to war between the US and Syria, but it marks an important turning point in a turbulent and unpredictable relationship that stretches back some 60 years.
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Shortly after 4 pm on October 26, four US helicopters violated Syrian airspace en route from Iraq. Two of the choppers landed in the village of Sukariyya in the township of Abu Kamal near the border with Iraq. US soldiers disembarked and opened fire on civilians - killing eight (including one woman), in a battle that lasted for 40-minutes. A short time later, a Syrian TV crew first broke the news of the attack, calling it an "American massacre in Syria".

The Foreign Ministry quickly summoned the US and Iraqi attaches in Syria to condemn the attack. Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem spoke from London, criticizing the American "cowboy" behavior and lashing out heavily on Arab states that remained silent - likely in strong reference to Saudi Arabia - waiting to see how Washington would respond.

One theory says that the entire ordeal was part of the internal US politics in the final lap of the presidential campaign, aimed at boosting the chances of Republican Senator John McCain by giving him more reason to pursue Bush's "war on terror" - this time with Syria.

Twenty-four hours after the attack, an American "source" confirmed the attack, claiming that the US Army was tracking jihadi elements that had crossed the border into Syria. Yet the State Department, Pentagon and White House remained silent suggesting that something was very amiss in Washington.

Had the Americans struck at a terrorist stronghold, the Bush team would have been the first to brag about it on all available media. The fact that the traditional US chorus remained silent seems proof that the Americans were not too proud of what they did, and that perhaps human error had come into play.

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