2008 Abu Kamal raid
Encyclopedia
The 2008 Abu Kamal raid was an attack carried out by helicopter-borne CIA
paramilitary officers from Special Activities Division
and United States Special Operations Command
, Joint Special Operations Command inside Syria
n territory on October 26, 2008. The Syrian government called the event a "criminal and terrorist" attack on its sovereignty, alleging all of the reported eight fatalities were civilians. An unnamed U.S. military source, however, alleges that the target was a network of foreign fighters who travel through Syria to join the Iraqi insurgency
against the United States
-led Coalition in Iraq
and the Iraqi government.
and then, with the help of emplaced networks, travel across the Syrian border into Iraq, mainly through the city of Ramadi
. According to the US military, the foreign militants were responsible for 80% to 90% of the suicide attacks in Iraq, mainly targeting Iraqi civilians.
In the summer of 2007, a US military raid on a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq
house in the Iraqi town of Sinjar
, near Syria, yielded documents containing information about alleged Syrian smuggling networks used to move foreign fighters into Iraq. The documents included al-Qaeda in Iraq records of more than 500 foreign fighters who had entered from Syria, according to the Combating Terrorism Center
at the US Military Academy
, where civilian analysts are examining the documents. A July 2008 report on what the documents contained indicated that at least 95 Syrian "coordinators" were involved in facilitating the movement of the foreign fighters into Iraq. The report stated that many of the coordinators were from smuggling families in Bedouin
clans and other Syrian tribes.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, there have been a few reported incidents of the US military firing across the border at targets in Syria. US General David H. Petraeus stated in October 2008 that efforts by US and Iraqi forces, as well as by the Syrian government, had cut the number of militants crossing into Iraq from Syria from about 100 a month to 20 a month. Petraeus, however, stated that more needed to be done to halt the flow of militants. In 2008, the US blamed violence in Mosul
on foreign fighters from Syria.
, which is near the Iraqi border city of Al-Qa'im
. This area is regarded by the U.S. as the main crossing point into Iraq for fighters, money, and equipment in support of the Iraqi insurgency. At some point in time the Central Intelligence Agency
confirmed the location of al-Qaeda coordinator Abu Ghadiya, accused of being responsible for much of the smuggling, and suggested the raid be undertaken. According to Cable News Network, US President George W. Bush
likely approved the mission.
Four American Blackhawk helicopters entered Syrian airspace around 16:45 local time on October 26 and deployed roughly two dozen soldiers, who attacked a building under construction in the village of As Sukkariyah, just north of Abu Kamal. Sky News
reported that two of the four American helicopters landed, allowing 10 US Army Special Forces soldiers to disembark and storm a building under construction. The Syrian government stated that the soldiers killed eight civilians, including a man, his four children, and a married couple. However, reporters said they only saw seven bodies, and no children. U.S. officials contended that all those killed during the raid were associated with Abu Ghadiya, the operation's target. A villager from the area stated that at least two men were seized by the American forces. An eyewitness told the BBC that two of the dead — the married couple — were "very simple people" who "lived in a tent and were being paid to guard building materials such as cement and timber, 24 hours a day. These people will have had nothing to do with the insurgency in Iraq." Syria's official news agency gave the names of the dead as Dahud Mohammed al-Abdullah, his four sons, and Ahmed Khalifeh Ali Abbas al-Hassan and his wife. The US disputed the Syrian's claim of civilian casualties, emphasizing that all of the people killed in the assault were militants.
". A U.S. source told CBS News
that "the leader of the foreign fighters, an al-Qaeda
officer, was the target of Sunday's cross-border raid." He said the attack was successful but did not say whether or not the al-Qaeda officer was killed. Fox News later reported that Abu Ghadiya, "Al Qaeda's senior coordinator operating in Syria", was killed in the attack. The New York Times reported that during the raid the US troops involved killed several armed males who "posed a threat."
Abu Ghadiya
is a Sunni Iraqi born between 1977 and 1979 in Mosul
, whose actual name is Badran Turki Hishan al Mazidih. The U.S. government accuses him of working for Iraqi al-Qaeda leader Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi and later Abu Ayyub Al-Masri
, and of being appointed the Syrian commander for logistics in 2004. The US had reportedly known about Ghadiya for "months or years" and had been pressing the Syrian government to hand over, capture, or kill him. According to The New York Times
, Abu Ghadiya was either killed near his tent or died after being taken by the American troops; his body was flown out of Syria. American officials have stated that Ghadiya was killed in the raid along with several other members of his cell.
The Syrian government disputed the claims, stating that these were "lies from the United States" and that the American troops had violated international law and Syrian sovereignty. An 2009 investigation by Vanity Fair
that interviewed Syrian eyewitnesses, including a man shot during the raid, cast doubt on the Ghadiya assertion. Former Clinton administration official Robert Malley
, who met with State Department officials at the time, was quoted in the article affirming that Ghadiya was killed in the raid. However, former CIA officer Robert Baer
was highly skeptical, saying, "If they brought back an al-Qaeda body, why don’t they have something? There’s no conceivable way they would have killed him and not shown it”.
reported Syrian intelligence had cooperated with the US against al-Qaeda, and that Syria had told the US that it would not intervene in a US strike. Several days later, The Times
also reported that the Syrians had agreed to the raid through a back channel established with the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate
. According to the report, after the Syrians gave the U.S. information pertaining to the location of Abu Ghadiya, they agreed to allow the U.S. to apprehend him and bring him to Iraq; as such, when Syrian air defenses, on high alert since the Israeli-led Operation Orchard
, detected the American helicopters and requested permission to engage them, it was denied. However, the unintended firefight and subsequent deaths made it impossible for the operation to remain covert. One tribal leader told the paper that an hour and a half after the attack, Syrian intelligence officers came to the area, warning the villagers that if they spoke about what had just occurred, their family members would die.
. The Americans defend the action as self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, citing their belief that Syria is responsible for providing "sanctuary to terrorists". The same reason was used for U.S. raids into Pakistan
a few months before as part of the War on Terror
. Turkey has also used this argument for its raids against PKK rebels in northern Iraq, while Colombia
has used this defence for cross-border attacks against FARC.
The US position, as presented to the UN General Assembly a month before the incident by President
George W. Bush
, is that sovereign states have "an obligation to govern responsibly, and solve problems before they spill across borders. We have an obligation to prevent our territory from being used as a sanctuary for terrorism and proliferation and human trafficking
and organized crime
." Anthony Cordesman
, an analyst at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies
, said about the raid that, "When you are dealing with states that do not maintain their sovereignty and become a de facto sanctuary, the only way you have to deal with them is this kind of operation."
to Damascus
to protest the unauthorized raid. Sergeant
Brooke Murphy, an American military spokesman in Baghdad
, said that commanders were investigating. According to the Associated Press
, an anonymous U.S. official said that a raid had taken place, and had aimed to target members of a foreign fighter logistics network that reaches from Syria into Iraq. In other media, Syria has characterized the attack as "terrorist aggression". Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem
went ahead with a meeting with UK Foreign Minister
David Miliband
the day after the raid, but their joint news conference was canceled. On October 28 Syria closed an American school called the Damascus Community School
in Damascus and a US cultural center.
Iraq is in an awkward position because it wants to remain friendly with Syria, but also wants to prevent people believed to be creating unrest in Iraq from entering through Syria. Iraq's official spokesperson officially denounced the attack, stating, "The Iraqi government rejects U.S. aircraft bombarding posts inside Syria." However, an Iraqi Government spokesman stated Syria had in the past refused to hand over fighters who were accused of killing 13 Iraqi border guards. He also stated that the proposed agreement for US forces to stay in Iraq after the UN mandate ends "will limit this type of operation. It will limit the United States from using Iraqi land to attack others." Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said about the raid, "This area was a staging ground for activities by terrorist organizations hostile to Iraq." al-Dabbagh added that Iraq had previously requested that Syria turn over members of the insurgent group that uses Syria as its base.
Iraqi government officials in Mosul and the surrounding province of Ninevah strongly supported the raid and have encouraged the US and Iraqi central governments to do even more to stop the flow of insurgents from Syria into Iraq. Said Khosro Goran, the vice-governor of Ninevah, "We have an open border with Syria and our neighbours are actively encouraging the terrorists."
condemned the attack and refused "the use of force against independent sovereign states under the disguise of combating terrorism." A Chinese
foreign ministry spokesperson stated, "We oppose any deed that harms other countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity." India expressed disapproval of the raid, stating that actions resulting in the deaths of civilians are counterproductive. France expressed serious concern over the loss of Syrian civilian lives and called for restraint and respect for the territorial integrity of states. Spain's foreign minister called for an end to such dangerous events and expressed condolences to Syria for the deaths of civilians. North Korea condemned the raid, stating "The military attack is an unpardonable, inhuman criminal act...and state terrorism committed under the pretext of the anti-terrorism war" The government of Venezuela also condemned the raid, calling it a barbaric act, and President Hugo Chavez characterized the raid as illegal aggression. Vietnam
opposed the US unilateral military attack and said that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations must always be absolutely respected. Cuba
expressed vigorous condemnation for the raid, characterizing it as a criminal action and a violation of international law. The Indian Foreign Ministry said that "The scourge of terrorism affects many nations across the world. While this must elicit decisive responses, when such actions result in the death of innocent civilians, they defeat the very objective of the intervention."
The Arab League
denounced the raid and voiced its support to Syria to protect its sovereignty and people. AL Secretary General Amr Moussa
underlined the League's support for Syria's right to defend its land and people and called for an investigation in the incident to hold those responsible into account. The Foreign Ministry of Qatar
said that the raid contravened "the principles of international law and charters", and expressed its condolences for those killed and injured. Iran
condemned the raid, stating that "We actually condemn any attack which violates national sovereignty of countries and leads to the killing of innocent people. Such invasions are unacceptable." Facing increased internal pressure the Iraqi government unexpectedly criticized the expedition into the border village. A spokesman for the Iraqi, Ali al-Dabbagh, said: "The Iraqi government rejects US aircraft bombarding posts inside Syria. The constitution does not allow Iraq to be used as a staging ground to attack neighbouring countries."
said, "We would defend our territories. All of them [were] civilian, unarmed, and they [were] on Syrian territory." The Syrians also summoned the US and Iraqi ambassadors to protest against the raid, according to the Syrian Sana
news agency. Though the US did not officially respond to the accusations, sources were quoted saying a smuggling ring taking foreign fighters into Iraq was the target.
The Syrian government also ordered the closure of an American school
and the American Cultural Center in Damascus. And a public spokesman for the US embassy in Damascus said on Wednesday that the Embassy may close to the public for an unspecified period of time.
On October 30, 2008, thousands of Syrians in Damascus protested against the raid. They waved national flags and banners reading "No to U.S. aggression on the Syrian territory" and "The American aggression will not succeed".
The New York Times reported that the rally appeared to be organized and staged by the Syrian government. According to the Middle East Times, Syria publicly expressed anger to conceal its own involvement in the raid. Neither report could be verified independently.
protested the raid, stating, "Saber rattling and attacks upon sovereign nations who did not attack us are unacceptable." Representative Nick Rahall
was quoted in 2009 as saying that "[Syrian civilians] lost their lives in an unfortunate attempt by the previous administration to once again mislead, bully, and isolate a regime".
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
paramilitary officers from Special Activities Division
Special Activities Division
The Special Activities Division is a division in the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service responsible for covert operations known as "special activities"...
and United States Special Operations Command
United States Special Operations Command
The United States Special Operations Command is the Unified Combatant Command charged with overseeing the various Special Operations Commands of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps of the United States Armed Forces. The command is part of the Department of Defense...
, Joint Special Operations Command inside Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n territory on October 26, 2008. The Syrian government called the event a "criminal and terrorist" attack on its sovereignty, alleging all of the reported eight fatalities were civilians. An unnamed U.S. military source, however, alleges that the target was a network of foreign fighters who travel through Syria to join the Iraqi insurgency
Iraqi insurgency
The Iraqi Resistance is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures opposing the United States-led multinational force in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government...
against the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-led Coalition in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and the Iraqi government.
Background
Throughout the Iraq War, Syria has reportedly served as a conduit for foreign fighters intending to enter Iraq to fight US, coalition, or Iraqi military and police forces. US officials have complained that militants and their reinforcement and logistics networks have been able to operate openly in Syria, and that the Syrian government has not made sufficient effort to stop it. The US says that militants fly into DamascusDamascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
and then, with the help of emplaced networks, travel across the Syrian border into Iraq, mainly through the city of Ramadi
Ramadi
Ramadi is a city in central Iraq, about west of Baghdad. It is the capital of Al Anbar Governorate.-History:Ramadi is located in a fertile, irrigated, alluvial plain.The Ottoman Empire founded Ramadi in 1869...
. According to the US military, the foreign militants were responsible for 80% to 90% of the suicide attacks in Iraq, mainly targeting Iraqi civilians.
In the summer of 2007, a US military raid on a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a popular name for the Iraqi division of the international Salafi jihadi militant organization al-Qaeda. It is recognized as a part of the greater Iraqi insurgency....
house in the Iraqi town of Sinjar
Sinjar
Sinjar is the name of a town and district in northwestern Iraq's Ninawa Governorate near the Syrian border. Its population at the time of the 2006 census was 39,875....
, near Syria, yielded documents containing information about alleged Syrian smuggling networks used to move foreign fighters into Iraq. The documents included al-Qaeda in Iraq records of more than 500 foreign fighters who had entered from Syria, according to the Combating Terrorism Center
Combating Terrorism Center
The Combating Terrorism Center is an academic institution at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York that provides education, research and policy analysis in the specialty areas of terrorism, counterterrorism, homeland security and weapons of mass destruction...
at the US Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
, where civilian analysts are examining the documents. A July 2008 report on what the documents contained indicated that at least 95 Syrian "coordinators" were involved in facilitating the movement of the foreign fighters into Iraq. The report stated that many of the coordinators were from smuggling families in Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
clans and other Syrian tribes.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, there have been a few reported incidents of the US military firing across the border at targets in Syria. US General David H. Petraeus stated in October 2008 that efforts by US and Iraqi forces, as well as by the Syrian government, had cut the number of militants crossing into Iraq from Syria from about 100 a month to 20 a month. Petraeus, however, stated that more needed to be done to halt the flow of militants. In 2008, the US blamed violence in Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
on foreign fighters from Syria.
The raid
The raid took place in Eastern Syria near Abu KamalAbu Kamal
Al-Bukamal or Al-Bu-Kamal , also referred to as Abu Kamal, is a city in eastern Syria on the Euphrates River near the border with Iraq...
, which is near the Iraqi border city of Al-Qa'im
Al-Qa'im (town)
Al-Qa'im is an Iraqi town on the Euphrates River in Al-Anbar province, close to the Syrian border....
. This area is regarded by the U.S. as the main crossing point into Iraq for fighters, money, and equipment in support of the Iraqi insurgency. At some point in time the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
confirmed the location of al-Qaeda coordinator Abu Ghadiya, accused of being responsible for much of the smuggling, and suggested the raid be undertaken. According to Cable News Network, US President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
likely approved the mission.
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
reported that two of the four American helicopters landed, allowing 10 US Army Special Forces soldiers to disembark and storm a building under construction. The Syrian government stated that the soldiers killed eight civilians, including a man, his four children, and a married couple. However, reporters said they only saw seven bodies, and no children. U.S. officials contended that all those killed during the raid were associated with Abu Ghadiya, the operation's target. A villager from the area stated that at least two men were seized by the American forces. An eyewitness told the BBC that two of the dead — the married couple — were "very simple people" who "lived in a tent and were being paid to guard building materials such as cement and timber, 24 hours a day. These people will have had nothing to do with the insurgency in Iraq." Syria's official news agency gave the names of the dead as Dahud Mohammed al-Abdullah, his four sons, and Ahmed Khalifeh Ali Abbas al-Hassan and his wife. The US disputed the Syrian's claim of civilian casualties, emphasizing that all of the people killed in the assault were militants.
Target
The target of the raid was said to be a "foreign fighter logistics networkLogistics
Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
". A U.S. source told CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
that "the leader of the foreign fighters, an al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
officer, was the target of Sunday's cross-border raid." He said the attack was successful but did not say whether or not the al-Qaeda officer was killed. Fox News later reported that Abu Ghadiya, "Al Qaeda's senior coordinator operating in Syria", was killed in the attack. The New York Times reported that during the raid the US troops involved killed several armed males who "posed a threat."
Abu Ghadiya
Abu Ghadiya
Abu Ghadiya, born Badran Turki Hashim al-Mazidih sometime between 1977-1979 in Mosul, was a Sunni militant active with al-Qaeda in Iraq . He was primarily involved in the logistics of AQI's effort in Iraq and assisted in smuggling weapons, money and fighters across the Syria-Iraq border. He was...
is a Sunni Iraqi born between 1977 and 1979 in Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, whose actual name is Badran Turki Hishan al Mazidih. The U.S. government accuses him of working for Iraqi al-Qaeda leader Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi and later Abu Ayyub Al-Masri
Abu Ayyub al-Masri
Abu Ayyub al-Masri , also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir and other aliases , was an active combattant of al-Qaeda and at least a senior aide to former leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. When Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike on 7 June 2006, U.S...
, and of being appointed the Syrian commander for logistics in 2004. The US had reportedly known about Ghadiya for "months or years" and had been pressing the Syrian government to hand over, capture, or kill him. According to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Abu Ghadiya was either killed near his tent or died after being taken by the American troops; his body was flown out of Syria. American officials have stated that Ghadiya was killed in the raid along with several other members of his cell.
The Syrian government disputed the claims, stating that these were "lies from the United States" and that the American troops had violated international law and Syrian sovereignty. An 2009 investigation by Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
that interviewed Syrian eyewitnesses, including a man shot during the raid, cast doubt on the Ghadiya assertion. Former Clinton administration official Robert Malley
Robert Malley
Robert Malley is an American lawyer, political scientist and specialist in conflict resolution. He is currently Program Director for Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group in Washington, D.C., and a former Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs...
, who met with State Department officials at the time, was quoted in the article affirming that Ghadiya was killed in the raid. However, former CIA officer Robert Baer
Robert Baer
Robert "Bob" Booker Baer is an American author and a former CIA case officer assigned to the Middle East. He is TIME.com's intelligence columnist and has contributed to Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Baer is a frequent commentator and author about issues related to...
was highly skeptical, saying, "If they brought back an al-Qaeda body, why don’t they have something? There’s no conceivable way they would have killed him and not shown it”.
Syrian permission given pre-attack
On October 28, Israeli journalist Ronen BergmanRonen Bergman
Ronen Bergman is an Israeli investigative journalist and author. He is Currently a senior political and military analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s largest-circulation daily.Mr...
reported Syrian intelligence had cooperated with the US against al-Qaeda, and that Syria had told the US that it would not intervene in a US strike. Several days later, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
also reported that the Syrians had agreed to the raid through a back channel established with the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Directorate
The Air Force Intelligence is an intelligence service of Syria. Idarat al-Mukhabarat al-Jawiyya is possibly Syria's most powerful intelligence service, owing its importance to Hafez al-Assad's role as the Air Force commander....
. According to the report, after the Syrians gave the U.S. information pertaining to the location of Abu Ghadiya, they agreed to allow the U.S. to apprehend him and bring him to Iraq; as such, when Syrian air defenses, on high alert since the Israeli-led Operation Orchard
Operation Orchard
Operation Orchard was an Israeli airstrike on a nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria carried out just after midnight on September 6, 2007. The White House and Central Intelligence Agency later confirmed that American intelligence had also indicated the site was a nuclear facility...
, detected the American helicopters and requested permission to engage them, it was denied. However, the unintended firefight and subsequent deaths made it impossible for the operation to remain covert. One tribal leader told the paper that an hour and a half after the attack, Syrian intelligence officers came to the area, warning the villagers that if they spoke about what had just occurred, their family members would die.
Counter Syrian and US terrorism allegations
The Syrian Government has called the raid a "terrorist aggression" and a violation of their sovereigntySovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
. The Americans defend the action as self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, citing their belief that Syria is responsible for providing "sanctuary to terrorists". The same reason was used for U.S. raids into Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
a few months before as part of the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. Turkey has also used this argument for its raids against PKK rebels in northern Iraq, while Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
has used this defence for cross-border attacks against FARC.
The US position, as presented to the UN General Assembly a month before the incident by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, is that sovereign states have "an obligation to govern responsibly, and solve problems before they spill across borders. We have an obligation to prevent our territory from being used as a sanctuary for terrorism and proliferation and human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
and organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
." Anthony Cordesman
Anthony Cordesman
Anthony H. Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and is a national security analyst for ABC News on a number of global conflicts...
, an analyst at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies
Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank. The center was founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University...
, said about the raid that, "When you are dealing with states that do not maintain their sovereignty and become a de facto sanctuary, the only way you have to deal with them is this kind of operation."
Syria and Iraq
Syria summoned the U.S. and Iraqi chargés d'affairesChargé d'affaires
In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
to Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
to protest the unauthorized raid. Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Brooke Murphy, an American military spokesman in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, said that commanders were investigating. According to the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, an anonymous U.S. official said that a raid had taken place, and had aimed to target members of a foreign fighter logistics network that reaches from Syria into Iraq. In other media, Syria has characterized the attack as "terrorist aggression". Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem
Walid Muallem
Walid al Muallem is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates for Syria, and a long-time diplomat for that country.-Early life, education and career:...
went ahead with a meeting with UK Foreign Minister
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
David Miliband
David Miliband
David Wright Miliband is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. He is the elder son of the late Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband...
the day after the raid, but their joint news conference was canceled. On October 28 Syria closed an American school called the Damascus Community School
Damascus Community School
Damascus Community School is an unlicensed American school founded by the former US secretary of state John Foster Dulles in 1957 in Damascus, Syria...
in Damascus and a US cultural center.
Iraq is in an awkward position because it wants to remain friendly with Syria, but also wants to prevent people believed to be creating unrest in Iraq from entering through Syria. Iraq's official spokesperson officially denounced the attack, stating, "The Iraqi government rejects U.S. aircraft bombarding posts inside Syria." However, an Iraqi Government spokesman stated Syria had in the past refused to hand over fighters who were accused of killing 13 Iraqi border guards. He also stated that the proposed agreement for US forces to stay in Iraq after the UN mandate ends "will limit this type of operation. It will limit the United States from using Iraqi land to attack others." Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said about the raid, "This area was a staging ground for activities by terrorist organizations hostile to Iraq." al-Dabbagh added that Iraq had previously requested that Syria turn over members of the insurgent group that uses Syria as its base.
Iraqi government officials in Mosul and the surrounding province of Ninevah strongly supported the raid and have encouraged the US and Iraqi central governments to do even more to stop the flow of insurgents from Syria into Iraq. Said Khosro Goran, the vice-governor of Ninevah, "We have an open border with Syria and our neighbours are actively encouraging the terrorists."
International reactions
RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
condemned the attack and refused "the use of force against independent sovereign states under the disguise of combating terrorism." A Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
foreign ministry spokesperson stated, "We oppose any deed that harms other countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity." India expressed disapproval of the raid, stating that actions resulting in the deaths of civilians are counterproductive. France expressed serious concern over the loss of Syrian civilian lives and called for restraint and respect for the territorial integrity of states. Spain's foreign minister called for an end to such dangerous events and expressed condolences to Syria for the deaths of civilians. North Korea condemned the raid, stating "The military attack is an unpardonable, inhuman criminal act...and state terrorism committed under the pretext of the anti-terrorism war" The government of Venezuela also condemned the raid, calling it a barbaric act, and President Hugo Chavez characterized the raid as illegal aggression. Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
opposed the US unilateral military attack and said that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations must always be absolutely respected. Cuba
expressed vigorous condemnation for the raid, characterizing it as a criminal action and a violation of international law. The Indian Foreign Ministry said that "The scourge of terrorism affects many nations across the world. While this must elicit decisive responses, when such actions result in the death of innocent civilians, they defeat the very objective of the intervention."
The Arab League
Arab League
The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a...
denounced the raid and voiced its support to Syria to protect its sovereignty and people. AL Secretary General Amr Moussa
Amr Moussa
Amr Mohammed Moussa is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the Secretary-General of the Arab League, a 22-member forum representing Arab states, from 1 June 2001 until 1 June 2011. He is a candidate in the 2011 Egyptian presidential election....
underlined the League's support for Syria's right to defend its land and people and called for an investigation in the incident to hold those responsible into account. The Foreign Ministry of Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
said that the raid contravened "the principles of international law and charters", and expressed its condolences for those killed and injured. Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
condemned the raid, stating that "We actually condemn any attack which violates national sovereignty of countries and leads to the killing of innocent people. Such invasions are unacceptable." Facing increased internal pressure the Iraqi government unexpectedly criticized the expedition into the border village. A spokesman for the Iraqi, Ali al-Dabbagh, said: "The Iraqi government rejects US aircraft bombarding posts inside Syria. The constitution does not allow Iraq to be used as a staging ground to attack neighbouring countries."
Increased animosity
The Syrian government reacted by warning of retaliation if the US stages any more cross-border strikes, while also demanding respect of its sovereignty. The Syrian foreign minister accused the US of conducting a planned act of "criminal and terrorist aggression" in broad daylight with "blunt determination". Walid MuallemWalid Muallem
Walid al Muallem is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates for Syria, and a long-time diplomat for that country.-Early life, education and career:...
said, "We would defend our territories. All of them [were] civilian, unarmed, and they [were] on Syrian territory." The Syrians also summoned the US and Iraqi ambassadors to protest against the raid, according to the Syrian Sana
Sana
-Geography:* Sana'a, the capital of Yemen* Sana, Haute-Garonne, France, a commune in the Haute-Garonne département* Sana, Bhutan, a town in Bhutan* Sana, Greece, a village in the northern part of the prefecture of Chalkidiki...
news agency. Though the US did not officially respond to the accusations, sources were quoted saying a smuggling ring taking foreign fighters into Iraq was the target.
The Syrian government also ordered the closure of an American school
Damascus Community School
Damascus Community School is an unlicensed American school founded by the former US secretary of state John Foster Dulles in 1957 in Damascus, Syria...
and the American Cultural Center in Damascus. And a public spokesman for the US embassy in Damascus said on Wednesday that the Embassy may close to the public for an unspecified period of time.
On October 30, 2008, thousands of Syrians in Damascus protested against the raid. They waved national flags and banners reading "No to U.S. aggression on the Syrian territory" and "The American aggression will not succeed".
The New York Times reported that the rally appeared to be organized and staged by the Syrian government. According to the Middle East Times, Syria publicly expressed anger to conceal its own involvement in the raid. Neither report could be verified independently.
Other reactions
A number of politicians in the United States have condemned the raid. Representative Dennis KucinichDennis Kucinich
Dennis John Kucinich is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He was furthermore a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections....
protested the raid, stating, "Saber rattling and attacks upon sovereign nations who did not attack us are unacceptable." Representative Nick Rahall
Nick Rahall
Nick Joe Rahall II is the U.S. Representative for West Virginia's 3rd congressional district, serving since 1977. Rahall is currently Ranking Member of the House Resources Committee. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes much of the southern portion of the state, including...
was quoted in 2009 as saying that "[Syrian civilians] lost their lives in an unfortunate attempt by the previous administration to once again mislead, bully, and isolate a regime".
See also
- Operation OrchardOperation OrchardOperation Orchard was an Israeli airstrike on a nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria carried out just after midnight on September 6, 2007. The White House and Central Intelligence Agency later confirmed that American intelligence had also indicated the site was a nuclear facility...
(Israeli air-raid against alleged Syrian nuclear facility in 2007) - Ain es Saheb airstrikeAin es Saheb airstrikeThe Ain es Saheb airstrike occurred on October 5, 2003 and was the first overt Israeli military operation in Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.- Operation :...
- List of military strikes against presumed terrorist targets