The US made an unprecedented air attack on Syria. Bassel Oudat tries to fathom Washington's logic Four US helicopters, flying from bases inside Iraq, have violated Syrian airspace near the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal. Two of the helicopters landed in the village of Al-Sukkariya, 8km inside Syrian borders, while the other two hovered overhead. According to Syrian sources, eight US soldiers got out of the helicopters and proceeded to fire at a "civilian building under construction, hitting workers inside the building". Eight Syrian citizens were killed in the shooting, including a woman. Five of the dead were from the same family. Four others were injured. A US military source confirmed the attack on Abu Kamal. He told reporters that the operation targeted a network affiliated with Al-Qaeda and active in smuggling "foreign fighters" into Iraq. The Iraqi Defence Ministry declined to comment on the incident, but the mayor of the Iraqi border town of Al-Qaem, Farahan Al-Mahallawi, told reporters that "the US planes fired at a village on the Syrian side of the borders." Ali Al-Dabbagh, spokesman for the Iraqi government, has said that the US planes fired at "terrorist" sites from which recent attacks on Iraq were waged. The Syrian deputy foreign minister summoned the US charge d'affaires to protest against the attack. He also summoned the Iraqi charge d'affaires in connection with the same incident. Abu Kamal is situated nearly 5km away from the Iraqi borders and controls Al-Yarabiya crossing. It faces the area of Al-Qaem on the Iraqi side. Inhabitants of Abu Kamal say that there are no military installations in the area the Americans have attacked. The village of Al-Sukkariya is home to about 2,000 people. Abu Kamal hosts a camp for Iraqi refugees which is run by the Red Crescent. US forces claim that foreign fighters are being smuggled from Syria to Iraq through the Al-Qaem area. Armed gangs took control of Al-Qaem in April 2005 but were expelled in a large-scale operation by US troops in late 2006. The attack on Al-Sukkariya didn't come as a total surprise. A week ago Major General John Kelly, commander of US troops in western Iraq, said that the movement of "gunmen" from Syria to Iraq was still ongoing. The Daily Telegraph quoted another US official as saying that Syria's attempts to deter the infiltration of gunmen into Iraq were "inadequate". Syrian officials believe that the attack is an attempt to twist Syria's arm. Since the beginning of this year, Syria has pursued policies aimed at improving its relations with the West. It started indirect talks with Israel and made adjustments to its policies on Lebanon and Palestine. France has encouraged these steps and last month US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice commended Syria for its decision to exchange ambassadors with Lebanon. Over the past four years, Syria has claimed to be doing all it could to monitor its 700km borders with Iraq. It deployed 20,000 troops along the borders and established a system of barricades, then invited diplomats and journalists to tour the area. Syrian officials maintain that the measures they have taken on their side of the borders are superior to those taken on the Iraqi side. The Syrian government says that its stringent measures on the borders may explain the recent rise in terrorist attacks in Syria. Recently, a bombing took place in southern Damascus, killing several people. Syrian authorities have detained dozens of gunmen who were caught trying to cross the borders into Iraq and handed some over to their respective countries. Syrian commentators say that the US attack was this year's "October Surprise", designed to boost the chances of the Republican presidential candidate and to bring security back into the political agenda. There is also the chance that the US attack was staged in order to tarnish Syria's image and dissuade Europe from normalising ties with Syria. The attack may have also aimed to persuade Iraqi legislators to approve a clause in the draft Iraqi-US security agreement. The clause calls for allowing US forces stationed in Iraq to launch military operations against other countries. Most Iraqi politicians objected to the clause. The Syrians are now curious to see what Europe would make of all of this. Will European officials press on with their plans to improve ties with Damascus, or will they bow to Washington and change their mind? Upping the ante, but understandably, Syria closed the American College and American Cultural Centre in Damascus.
