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U.S. attacks in Syria
Last update - 21:17 26/10/2008
Syria: 9 dead in U.S. helicopter border strike from Iraq
By Yoav Stern and News Agencies
Tags: Israel News, Syria, U.S. army
Syrian state-run TV and witnesses said Sunday that American helicopters attacked an area close to the Iraqi border zone, killing at least nine people.
Local residents in a Syrian border town said that American forces killed seven men in a helicopter-borne commando attack inside Syrian territory. State-run TV later raised the number of dead to nine.
Doctors in the town of Al-Sukkariya, some eight kilometers from the Iraqi border, said seven corpses and four wounded had been delivered to a nearby clinic after the attack.
An official Syrian spokesman confirmed the attack.
The eyewitness accounts said that four helicopters were involved in the operation, with two of the helicopters landing in the town and eight American soldiers disembarking. The eyewitnesses said that the seven killed men were supposedly construction workers.
Afterwards, the U.S. helicopters left Syrian airspace with all the soldiers again on board.
There was no initial U.S. comment about the reported incident. If confirmed, it would be the first time that American forces had carried out an attack on Syrian soil.
Syria: 9 dead in U.S. helicopter border strike from Iraq
By Yoav Stern and News Agencies
Tags: Israel News, Syria, U.S. army
Syrian state-run TV and witnesses said Sunday that American helicopters attacked an area close to the Iraqi border zone, killing at least nine people.
Local residents in a Syrian border town said that American forces killed seven men in a helicopter-borne commando attack inside Syrian territory. State-run TV later raised the number of dead to nine.
Doctors in the town of Al-Sukkariya, some eight kilometers from the Iraqi border, said seven corpses and four wounded had been delivered to a nearby clinic after the attack.
An official Syrian spokesman confirmed the attack.
The eyewitness accounts said that four helicopters were involved in the operation, with two of the helicopters landing in the town and eight American soldiers disembarking. The eyewitnesses said that the seven killed men were supposedly construction workers.
Afterwards, the U.S. helicopters left Syrian airspace with all the soldiers again on board.
There was no initial U.S. comment about the reported incident. If confirmed, it would be the first time that American forces had carried out an attack on Syrian soil.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wor...ing_casualties.
'US Helicopter Attack In Syria'
Breaking News
7:16pm UK, Sunday October 26, 2008
American helicopters have reportedly attacked a Syrian border point with Iraq, killing nine people.
Syrian TV channel Al Dunia said a number of US helicopters attacked the village of Al Sukkiraya, east of the capital.
Witnesses said the attack targeted a house in the area in which a man and his four sons, and two other people were killed.
"Nine people were killed and 14 wounded in the raid, which hit a group of builders while they were working," the television station said.
"All victims were civilians," it added.
It is not clear when the attack happened.
There has been no official confirmation from the US, but a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said the matter was being investigated.
Alon ben-David, a security correspondent with Israel's Channel 10, believes American military action was taken against suspected al Qaeda territory on Syrian soil.
He told SkyNews: "In a combined operation, four helicopters closed in on the target - a building in which there were five members of the same family.
"The gunships attacked and eight American soldiers landed on the ground and stormed the building before leaving."
Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall says the attack will cause "a flap between the three countries" but expects the situation to "die down".
"Syria is not in the mood to make trouble despite having its territory violated," he says.
Breaking News
7:16pm UK, Sunday October 26, 2008
American helicopters have reportedly attacked a Syrian border point with Iraq, killing nine people.
Syrian TV channel Al Dunia said a number of US helicopters attacked the village of Al Sukkiraya, east of the capital.
Witnesses said the attack targeted a house in the area in which a man and his four sons, and two other people were killed.
"Nine people were killed and 14 wounded in the raid, which hit a group of builders while they were working," the television station said.
"All victims were civilians," it added.
It is not clear when the attack happened.
There has been no official confirmation from the US, but a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said the matter was being investigated.
Alon ben-David, a security correspondent with Israel's Channel 10, believes American military action was taken against suspected al Qaeda territory on Syrian soil.
He told SkyNews: "In a combined operation, four helicopters closed in on the target - a building in which there were five members of the same family.
"The gunships attacked and eight American soldiers landed on the ground and stormed the building before leaving."
Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall says the attack will cause "a flap between the three countries" but expects the situation to "die down".
"Syria is not in the mood to make trouble despite having its territory violated," he says.
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