(This is a developing story at the moment of writing.)
US forces conducted a raid on Syrian territory Sunday night using 4 helicopters, which disembarked 10 special forces commandos in a first-of-its-kind action along the Iraqi-Syrian border. The Syrian government reports that the attack was on a civilian building still under construction and that eight civilians were killed, including four children. An unnamed US military official claimed that the attack was on al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters using Syria as a base and safe haven. Naturally, Syria condemns this action on its sovereign territory as unacceptable foreign aggression.
The US and Iraqi governments have been complaining for years that Syrian territory has been used by insurgents and terrorists as a base to train, rest and hide in safety between attacks on coalition and Iraqi forces in Iraq. At best, the Syrian government has been turning a blind eye to what has been going on. At worst, it has been actively helping them along. In addition to this, Syria has also been used to move supplies into Iraq to arm and resupply insurgent forces all over the eastern half of the country.
At the moment, it is a he-said, she-said affair and the full truth of what really happened may not be known for some time. However, the timing of this raid is very curious and that deserves further speculation.
Syria has been playing a dangerous game for several years now and in Bush’s final months, it seems as if he is upping the ante. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been dancing delicately between Iran, the US, Russia, certain members of the EU and Israel. No one really seems to know what his agenda is and he is taking advantage of the fact that many countries/forces want or need his cooperation. He wants Russian weapons and needs Iranian money to pay for them. He wants the Golan Heights returned, but wishes to avoid war with Israel. He also wants actual or de facto control of Lebanon without getting into a conflict with the US, France, or Israel, and without pissing off his Hezbollah allies (which means angering Iran in the process). As I stated above, this is a dangerous game but al-Assad seems to be one of the few capable of pulling it off and still keeping his head.
One recent development that has disturbing possibilities is quite likely to have tripped off this raid. Several days ago, it was reported that Syria had just completed a military semi-encirclement of Lebanon from the Syrian side of the border utilizing at least five divisions with a combined force capable of completely shattering Lebanon’s military in a matter of days. This move caught the US and Israel by surprise and it is quite possible that this raid was really a reminder to al-Assad to behave. Let us all hope that he took the hint and will mind his manners.
