Iran condemns U.S. attack on Syrian soil
October 28, 2008 - 0:0
TEHRAN– On Monday, Iran strongly condemned the U.S. air raid on Syrian soil calling it “unacceptable”.
“We condemn any military invasion and a violation of the sovereignty of countries …and announce that such issues are not acceptable to us,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a news conference.U.S. military helicopters launched an attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people including four children.
Syria reacted angrily to the attack. “We consider this an act of criminal and terrorist aggression,” said Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem. The fact that the attack occurred in broad daylight showed that it was deliberate, he added.
A U.S. military official claimed the raid by special forces targeted the network of al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq.
""We are taking matters into our own hands,"" the official told The Associated Press in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.
A Syrian government statement said the helicopters attacked the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside, the statement said.
Officials across the Arab world reacted with shock and outrage over the raid.
“The U.S. forces violated the Iraqi constitution when it bombed houses inside the Syrian soil from the Iraqi territory,” Iraqi lawmaker Osama Najifi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, noting laws that ban the use of Iraqi territory as the launching point for attacks on neighboring countries.
Criticism also poured in from Lebanon, where the attack was denounced by both the president and prime minister.
“The raid by US helicopters on Syrian territory ... constitutes a violation of Syrian sovereignty and thus is a dangerous, unacceptable attack that we condemn,” read a statement from Prime Minister Gouad Seniora. “Any military attack against an Arab country or on a small country by a larger country is an act we reject,” the statement added.
Similarly, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa called the raid ”a violation of Syrian sovereignty” and called for an investigation to find out who was responsible for the attack.
Russia, which has a military cooperation agreement with Syria, also voiced its objection, expressing “great concern” and noting that such unilateral actions could only increase regional tensions