Region | Syria
Syria denies Al Qaida operative targeted in US cross-border raid
Syria denied on Tuesday that a US raid inside its territory targeted an Al Qaida operative as alleged by a US official, and Arab governments and press continued to condemn the US attack.
- By Jumana Al Tamimi, Associate Editor
- Published: 23:31 October 28, 2008
- Angry family members and villagers raise anti-American slogans as they carry the coffin of a relative, who died in a US attack on Syrian territory.
- Image Credit: AP
Dubai: Syria denied on Tuesday that a US raid inside its territory targeted an Al Qaida operative as alleged by a US official, and Arab governments and press continued to condemn the US attack.
While Egypt slammed the raid as "a serious violation of Syria's sovereignty", Iraq issued its first official criticism of the strike.
"The Iraqi government rejects US aircraft bombarding posts inside Syria," government spokesperson Ali Al Dabbagh said on Tuesday.
But he also added Iraq "reiterates its demand to halt all activities of organisations that are using Syria as a staging ground to arm and train terrorists that are targeting Iraq".
The Iraqi official criticism carries political significance at a time when Baghdad and Washington are negotiating an agreement to allow US forces stay on in Iraq till 2011.
Iraqi leaders say one of their concerns is that the accord does not prevent US forces from using Iraq as a base for attacks on its neighbours.
Iraq's Association of Muslim Scholars, an umbrella organisation of Sunni groups, said in its condemnation that the raid "represents a dangerous precedent that clearly proves the US occupation's eagerness to carry out, with using all possible means, what the agreement allows it to".
Syria has accused the United States of "terrorist aggression" by launching the raid, which it announced killed eight civilians, including children.
Dangerous
The official Tishreen newspaper accused the US administration of following "cowboy policy".
An official in Washington said US forces had carried out a successful operation against "foreign militants". The raid was slammed by both Russia and Iran, criticised by many countries including France which called for uncovering the details, and condemned by the Arab league and the Lebanese government, which described it as "a dangerous aggression and unacceptable regardless of the excuses given to it".
All explanations from Washington are "rejected and can't be accepted by anyone", said the editorial of the Egyptian mass-circulation Arabic-language Al Ahram newspaper.
"The US has lost its credibility in the Middle East since it created the lie of the weapons of mass destruction Baghdad has to invade Iraq in 2003. Since then, the US lies file is full of illusive explanations and ready justifications," it wrote.
Elections
Other Arab columnists and writers were also harsh in their criticism, while the majority wrote on different issues including the forthcoming elections in Israel.
By the raid, the US is following a "a mob way of thinking that is based on jungle justice and strength of claws", wrote George Hadad in an article published in the Jordanian Ad-Dustour newspaper.
Meanwhile, The Times newspaper of London said on Monday the raid "marks the culmination of years of frustrations with Damascus' reluctance to police its own border with Iraq".
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