October 27, 2008
Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent, and Deborah Haynes

Britain and Syria cancelled a planned joint press conference of their foreign ministers in London today as the fall-out continued over an American military raid into Syrian territory that left eight civilians dead.

The attack threatens to overshadow what was a long-planned visit to London by Walid Muallem, the Syrian Foreign Minister, aimed at repairing the two countries’ rocky relationship under the leadership of Tony Blair.

Damascus has been incensed by the attack, which Washington has yet to comment on. David Miliband had hoped to capitalise on Syria’s desire for stronger ties with the West to persuade it towards a more active role in the search for Middle Eastern peace. But talks today will inevitably be dominated by Syrian protest over the American military action.

A statement from the Foreign Office said that British and Syrian officials “have agreed that it would not be appropriate to hold a formal press conference as planned.” The Syrian Embassy, however, confirmed that Mr Muallem would go ahead with a solo briefing at which he was expected to denounce the incursion.

Syria has protested vigorously about last night's raid, claiming that four children were among the eight to die after four military helicopters landed at sunset near al-Sukkari farm, five miles inside the Syrian border.

Sami al-Khiyami, the Syrian ambassador to London, said: "This is an outrageous raid which is against international law. It is a terrible crime." He said that Syria was waiting for "clarifications from the Americans" before deciding whether to lodge a complaint at the United Nations Security Council.

Jihad Makdissi, the press attache at the Syrian embassy in London, said: "If (the United States) have any proof of any insurgency, instead of applying the law of the jungle and penetrating, unprovoked, a sovereign country, they should come to the Syrians first and share this information."

But Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, retorted that Syria had failed to act against terror groups.

"The attacked area was the scene of activities of terrorist groups operating from Syria against Iraq," he said. "The latest of these groups... killed 13 police recruits in an (Iraqi) border village. Iraq has asked Syria to hand over this group which uses Syria as a base for its terrorist operations."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has summoned the US and Iraqi ambassadors to Damascus to protest about the operation.

Syrian television has screened images of one of the survivors of the raid, the wife of the building guard, lying in hospital with injuries inflicted during machine gun fire. The hospital director said that she was one of three survivors, and that the hospital had also received seven bodies aged between 16 and 50.

Footage from Reuters television has shown the aftermath of the raid - a truck riddled with bulletholes, and bloodstains and spent cartridge cases on the ground at a half-acre fenced farm building. Osama Malla Hameed, a neighbour, said that four helicopters converged on the farm from different directions. Two hovered over it while two landed for a period of less than five minutes, and soldiers got out and fired shots, injuring his nephew in the hand as he rode his motorbike nearby.

US forces based in western Iraq denied that they were involved in the incident, suggesting that it may have been carried out by a special unit ouside the regular US command structure.

While the Pentagon did not confirm the attack, a US military spokesman said that the raid targeted a network of foreign fighters based at the farm. “We are taking matters into our hands,” the unnamed US official said.

Mr al-Dabbagh refused to say who carried out the raid. "Iraq is always seeking distinguished relations with its sister Syria. The presence of some anti-Iraq groups in Syria, which are supporting and participating in activities against Iraqis, would hinder improvement of these operations," he said.

America accuses Syria of failing to do enough to stop militants, including al-Qaeda operatives, from infiltrating over the border. The Bou Kamal border area, close to the farm in eastern Syria, is the country’s main crossing point into Iraq.

Last week the commander of US forces in western Iraq said that US troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which was far more laxly policed than Iraq's borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

“The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side,” Major-General John Kelly said. “We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement.”

The Syrian Foreign Minister accused the US this year of not giving his country the equipment that it needed to prevent foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq. He said that the US feared Syria could use such equipment against Israel.

The reported attack comes at a particularly sensitive time, as Baghdad and Washington struggle to sign an agreement to allow US troops to stay in Iraq beyond this year. Neighbouring countries, including Syria and Iran, have voiced concern that such an accord would enable the US military to attack other countries from Iraqi territory, a charge that US officials deny.

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5023391.ece