Syrian War Planes Bomb ISIS Targets In Iraq

Syrian War Planes Strike ISIS Targets in Iraq, US Says -- ABC News

Military aircraft that conducted air strikes against ISIS military targets in western Iraq are believed to have been from Syria’s air force, a U.S. official told ABC News.

Such air strikes would be a regional escalation of the conflict inside Iraq where the Islamic militants have taken over cities in northern and western Iraq and threatened the stability of the Iraqi government.

It would also make Syria the second country that has been hostile to the U.S. apparently helping Iraq. There have been reports of Iranian troops intervening on behalf of the beleaguered Iraqi government.

ISIS fighters operate on both sides of the Syrian and Iraqi border. Syrian airstrikes would indicate that the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad finds it advantageous in supporting the beleaguered government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

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Previous Post: Unknown Planes Bomb ISIS Positions In Iraq. U.S. Denies Involvement

More News On Syrian War Planes Bombing ISIS Targets In Iraq

Syrian aircraft bomb Sunni militant targets inside Iraq -- Washington Post
Syrian warplanes strike in western Iraq, killing at least 50 -- Market Watch
Syrian jets bomb eastern rebel towns near Iraq, at least 16 dead -- Reuters
Syrian Forces Just Bombed ISIS Targets Inside Iraq -- Business Insider

Concerns Rise In Iraq Over Syria's Escalating Civil War

Syrian War’s Spillover Threatens a Fragile Iraq -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — The civil war in Syria is testing Iraq’s fragile society and fledgling democracy, worsening sectarian tensions, pushing Iraq closer to Iran and highlighting security shortcomings just nine months after American forces ended their long and costly occupation here.

Fearing that Iraq’s insurgents will unite with extremists in Syria to wage a two-front battle for Sunni dominance, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki recently ordered guards at the western border to block adult men, even husbands and fathers with families in tow, from crossing into Iraq along with thousands of refugees seeking to escape the grinding war next door.

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My Comment: Like many conflicts in the Middle East .... it all comes down to religion/tribe/sect. The only thing that I can add to this discussion is that I am glad that U.S. forces are out of Iraq, and that I can only hope that we do not go back.

Iraq Pressured To Stop Weapon Shipments To Syria

Iraq Blocks Syria-Bound North Korean Plane, Suspects Weapons Cargo -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Iraq said on Friday it has denied permission to a North Korean plane bound for Syria to pass through Iraqi airspace on suspicion it could be carrying weapons, and the United States stressed the need to prevent any such arms transfers.

Iraq has also denied a Western intelligence report that Iranian aircraft had flown weapons and military personnel over Iraqi airspace to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his 18-month-old fight against rebels seeking to end his rule.

U.S. officials said earlier this month they were questioning Iraq about Iranian flights in Iraqi air space. On Wednesday, U.S. Senator John Kerry threatened to review U.S. aid to Baghdad if it does not halt such overflights to Syria.

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Update #1: Iraq bans Syria-bound NKorea plane with suspected arms load, potentially closing supply line -- Washington Post/AP
Update #2: US, Iraqi leaders discuss concerns on Syria arms -- Reuters

My Comment: Iraq is feeling the pressure, but instead of stopping North Korean planes, I would like to see them stop these planes.

Iraq - Syria Crisis Deepens

Syria (on left), Iraq (on right). Image from Wikipedia

Iraqi-Syrian Crisis Deepens; Baghdad Looks To UN For Help -- Christian Science Monitor

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday he's optimistic that a UN investigator would examine claims that Syria, Iran, and others were interfering in Iraq's affairs.

Baghdad - The crisis between two of the Middle East's most powerful countries deepened Wednesday as Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said talks with Syria over suicide truck bomb attacks had failed and the United Nations would appoint a special envoy to investigate the violence.

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More News On Iraq - Syria Relations

Syria-Iraq Dispute Colors Regional Security Conference -- Voice of America
Iraqi Foreign Minister: 'No Opening' in Relations With Syria -- Wall Street Journal
Erdogan: Turkey working on Iraqi-Syrian tension (Roundup) -- M&C
Iraq FM blames failed talks on lack of Syrian 'seriousness' -- AFP
Al Qaida operatives are still shuttling from Iraq to Iran, Syria -- World Tribune
Lack of Mid-East peace deepens water crisis -- BBC

Killing Of al-Qaida Smuggler In Syria Was Joint Syrian, U.S. Effort

Map shows the location of an American Special Forces raid inside Syria that U.S. officials say was executed with Syrian Intel support but which unintentionally resulted in civilian deaths and the killing of their target. (MCT via Newscom)

From The Middle East Times:

In spite of much angry public protest in Damascus, last month's killing of top al-Qaida operative Abu Ghadiya, was in fact a joint operation between U.S. Special Forces in Iraq and Syrian intelligence, according to former and serving U.S. intelligence officials.

Abu Ghadiya, a smuggler who for years had moved money, weapons and insurgents into Iraq from Syria, was killed by a U.S. helicopter raid on Oct. 26. Seven civilians were killed with him, and the resulting furor was immediate: Russia and the Arab League strongly protested the raid, and Syria accused the United States of "criminal and terrorist aggression" and lodged an official protest, according to U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. Syria ordered the American School in Damascus closed.

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My Comment: Since the attack .... nothing. No investigation. No international condemnation. No limitation of U.S. forces in the region by the Iraqi Government. Nothing.

I guess that tells volumes of what actually happened that day.

Syria Is A Safe Haven For Terror Attacks In Iraq

Syria "Safe Haven" For Terrorists Against Iraq: U.S.
-- Yahoo News/Reuters

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – The United States criticized Syria at a security conference on Sunday for "giving safe haven to terrorists" attacking Iraq, weeks after a U.S. raid on Syria it said was targeting al Qaeda militants, delegates said.

U.S. Charge d'Affaires Maura Connelly, the highest ranking American diplomat in Syria, told a closed session of a security meeting on Iraq that the Damascus must stop allowing what she described as terrorist networks from using Syria as a base against Iraq, they told Reuters.

The criticism contrasts with the position of Washington's Western allies, including Britain, which praised Damascus for preventing foreign fighters from infiltrating Iraq.

"The American diplomat's speech was blunt and short. The United States was the only country at the conference to criticize Syria openly," one of the delegates said.

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My Comment: Northern part of Iraq is Kurdish controlled .... no terrorists can cross over there. Iranian border tightly controlled .... hard to sneak through there, and Al Qaeda is definitely not welcomed in Iran. South part of Iraq is Shiite dominated, no Al Qaeda wanted in that part of the world .... which now leaves us the western part, bordering Syria. And yup .... that is where all the terrorists were and .... in some cases are.

Syrian Complicity On The Killing Of An Al Qaeda Operative In Their Country?

Questions Raised Over Syrian Complicity
In US Raid -- Times Online

Syria has denounced a US strike on its territory but sources say Damascus secretly backed the raid

The 38-year-old farmer was watering his maize in the scrubby vastness of eastern Syria when four Black Hawk helicopters swooped in low over the palm trees, heading from the border with Iraq formed by the Euphrates River.

It was late afternoon. The light was fading and the chill of the desert winter night was setting in. The helicopters, following their leader in a disciplined arc, hovered just above the one-storey concrete and mud homes of the village of Sukariyeh before the attack began.

Two of them landed next to a ramshackle building site and uniformed men hit the ground firing. Two other helicopters gave aerial cover.

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My Comment: We will probably never know the true story behind this operation .... except that a top Al Qaeda operative is now dead.

U.S. Officials Confirm Commando Raid on Syria

Syrian villagers carried the coffins of relatives who were killed in what the Syrian media reported as an American military attack on the village of Sukkiraya, on the Syria-Iraq border. Hussein Malla/Associated Press

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — A raid into Syria on Sunday was carried out by American Special Operations forces who killed an Iraqi militant responsible for running weapons, money and foreign fighters across the border into Iraq, American officials said Monday.

The helicopter-borne attack into Syria was by far the boldest by American commandos in the five years since the United States invaded Iraq and began to condemn Syria’s role in stoking the Iraqi insurgency.

The timing was startling, not least because American officials praised Syria in recent months for its efforts to halt traffic across the border.

But in justifying the attack, American officials said the Bush administration was determined to operate under an expansive definition of self-defense that provided a rationale for strikes on militant targets in sovereign nations without those countries’ consent.

Together with a similar American commando raid into Pakistan more than seven weeks ago, the operation on Sunday appeared to reflect an intensifying effort by the Bush administration to find a way during its waning months to attack militants even beyond the borders of Iraq and Afghanistan, where the United States is at war.

Administration officials declined to say whether the emerging application of self-defense could lead to strikes against camps inside Iran that have been used to train Shiite “special groups” that have fought with the American military and Iraqi security forces.

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My Comment: This was a targeted killing that was also successful. Two things can be learned from this operation. Syria is harboring Al Qaeda agents who are permitted to send fighters to Iraq, and Syria is now infiltrated by Iraq and CIA agents who can pinpoint these agents..

Iraqi Leader For Iraqi Insurgents killed In Syria

US Official: Raid On Syria Killed Leader Of Cell -- Breitbart/AP

SUKKARIYEH, Syria (AP) - Families in this Syrian village on Monday buried loved ones they said died in a U.S. helicopter attack. A U.S. counterterrorism official said American forces killed the head of a Syrian network that funneled fighters, weapons and cash into Iraq.

The raid Sunday targeted the home of Abu Ghadiyah, the nickname for the leader of a key cell of foreign fighters in Iraq, according to the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

Also Monday, a villager said U.S. forces grabbed two men and took them away by helicopter during the cross-border raid.

During the funerals, residents shouted anti-American slogans and carried banners reading: "Down with Bush and the American enemy." Syria's foreign minister condemned the raid as "cowboy politics."

The Syrian government said four U.S. military helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown, killing eight people in Sukkariyeh—a village about five miles inside the Syrian border.

A U.S. military official in Washington confirmed Sunday that special forces had conducted a raid in Syria that targeted the network of al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq.

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Who Was The U.S. Target In Syria

Syrian men prepare to bury relatives who were killed yesterday in a US military raid in the village of Sukkiraya, on the Syria-Iraq border. The United States mounted a rare cross-border raid into Syria to kill the head of a smuggling network feeding arms and foreign fighters to Iraq, a US official said Monday, signaling a more aggressive approach to insurgent sanctuaries.
(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)

Qaeda Leader Targeted in Syria Raid:
Report (Updated) -- The Danger Room

The primary target of the U.S. raid into Syria was a "senior leader" of Al Qaeda in Iraq's "extensive network that funnels foreign fighters, weapons, and cash" into the country, according to the Long War Journal.

U.S. special operations hunter-killer teams entered Syria in an attempt to capture Abu Ghadiya… who has been in charge of the Syrian network since 2005….

The raid to capture Ghadiya occurred in the town of Sukkariya…just five miles from the Iraqi border. Four U.S. helicopters crossed the border and two of the helicopters landed to drop off special operations forces…

Nine people were reported killed and 14 were wounded. Syrian officials claimed innocent construction workers and women and children were killed in the raid.

U.S. officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not comment if Ghadiya was killed or captured.

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U.S. Conducts Cross-Border Raid Into Syria -- Summary Of News Reports

A flare illuminates a neighborhood held by insurgents as a US marine sniper fire at gunmen from a rooftop at the Iraqi-Syrian border, in western Iraq, in 2005. American helicopter-borne troops launched an assault on Sunday on a building in a Syrian border village with Iraq, killing eight civilians, official Syrian media reported.
(AFP/File/Patrick Baz)

Syria: US Choppers Attack Village Near Iraq Border
-- Breitbart/AP

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - U.S. military helicopters attacked an area along Syria's border with Iraq Sunday, killing eight people, the Syrian government said.

The Syrian report comes just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq told reporters that American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he said was an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

A government statement carried by the official Syrian Arab News Agency said Sunday's attack was on the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction, firing on the workers inside, shortly before sundown, the statement said.

The U.S. military in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.

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More News On The Iraq/Syrian Border

Syria claims US helicopters attacked village -- Telegraph
U.S. helicopters attack border point with Iraq: Syria -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Eight die in US attack inside Syria: official media -- AFP
Report: Eight Syrian civilian killed in U.S. helcopters attack -- China View
8 reportedly killed in U.S. raid inside Syria -- L.A. Times
Damascus: US Soldiers Attack Building in Eastern Syria, Killing 8 People -- Voice Of America
'US helicopter raid' inside Syria -- Al Jazeera
Syria: US conducted cross-border raid -- Long War Journal
Syria: US choppers bombed targets on our soil, near Iraq -- Jerusalem Post
Syria: 8 dead in U.S. helicopter border strike from Iraq -- Haaretz
US forces, helicopters attack Syrian village along Iraq border -- Business Intelligence
US raid 'kills civilians on Syrian soil' -- In The News.co.uk