US strike on Syria aimed at insurgent 'launch pad'

BAGHDAD HAS declared that Sunday's US helicopter raid on Syria targeted an area near the border where foreign fighters crossed into Iraq with the aim of carrying out attacks on US and Iraqi forces.

At least eight people were killed in the attack which involved strafing by helicopter gunships and the landing of four US commandos to attack a construction site in al-Sukkiraya on the Euphrates river.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said: "Iraq is in contact with the American side about reports regarding the attack along the frontier with Syria. This region is a theatre of insurgent activities against Iraq using Syria as a launch pad."

However, if prior approval for the attack was given, the government of prime minister Nuri al-Maliki could have violated a provision in the Iraqi constitution, adopted in 2005 during the US occupation. This provision says that Iraq should not be used as a base for attacks on its neighbours.

Syria's official media dubbed the raid a "war crime". US forces in Iraq "committed cold-blooded murder", the government newspaper Tishrinwrote.

The Syrian foreign ministry summoned US and Iraqi officials to make a formal protest. The dead were said to be a father and his four sons, a couple and another man. Several people were wounded.

"Syria condemns and denounces this act of aggression . . . US forces will bear the responsibility for any consequences," the official news agency said. "Syria also demands that the Iraqi government accept its responsibilities and launches an immediate inquiry following this dangerous violation, and forbids the use of Iraqi territory to launch attacks on Syria."

The raid took place the evening before Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem was due to pay an official visit to London for talks with his counterpart David Miliband. This meeting was seen as an occasion on which to warm relations between the two countries. Until recently Britain had been following the lead of the US, which has ostracised Syria, an ally of Iran and supporter of the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbullah movements. Syria has refused to end its backing for these groups as a price for improved relations with the US.

The attack came as a complete surprise to Damascus which, following an invitation to attend the Mediterranean summit in Paris in July, had undertaken measures which have pleased the European powers.

Damascus sent its first ambassador to Baghdad in 26 years and agreed to open full diplomatic relations with Lebanon. Furthermore, the number of infiltrators crossing from Syria into Iraq has fallen from a peak of 100 to fewer than 20 a month.

In September, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani told US president George Bush that Syria and Iran - often blamed for unrest in his country - were no longer a problem.

Nevertheless, Washington continues to hold Iran and, to a lesser extent, Syria responsible for civilian bombings and attacks on US and Iraqi troops. This has placed the Shia-dominated Iraqi government in a difficult position, because Iran has close ties to the ruling Shia coalition and to the Kurdish bloc, while Syria remains Tehran's sole Arab ally.

Damascus is as concerned about its own fundamentalist militants as is Iraq. Last month 17 people were killed in Damascus in a bombing blamed on al-Qaeda affiliate Fatah al-Islam.

US experts and Arab commentators argue that the strike may have been carried out on the orders of the neo-conservatives in the lame-duck Bush administration, which is struggling to contain insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is widely believed that the raid was timed to give a boost to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who is lagging behind Barack Obama in the polls.

However, analysts suggest that the US could pay a high price for the strike on Syria because it could deepen opposition to the proposed agreement among Iraqi ministers and parliamentary factions, prolonging and defining the US presence in Iraq.