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American forces fire on syrian border troops Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/603255.htmlhttp://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/603255.html
Last update - 01:54 22/07/2005
Syria accuses U.S., Iraqi forces of firing on its border troops
By News Agencies
Syria said on Thursday its border troops had been fired on by U.S. and Iraqi forces and accused Washington, London and Baghdad of lack of cooperation in preventing insurgents infiltrating into Iraq.
It was the first time Syria, which has a 600 km desert border with Iraq, had reported cases of U.S. troops firing on its forces.
The Foreign Ministry told heads of diplomatic missions in Damascus in a letter obtained by Reuters that Syrian border troops had been subject to attacks "not only by infiltrators and smugglers but by the Iraqi and American forces".
"The border clashes amounted to about 100 armed clashes, some of which were carried out by American soldiers who opened fire arbitrarily at those present behind the dirt rampart due to loss of self control," said the ministry.
The U.S. military in Iraq has launched several operations against insurgents near the border in the past few months but has not reported any cross-border fire.
In Washington, U.S. officials at the Pentagon said they were unaware of any shooting incidents involving Syria but were checking with U.S. forces in Iraq.
U.S. officials accuse Syria of not doing enough to stop insurgents from crossing into Iraq to fight U.S. and Iraqi forces and often say that guerrillas are using Syria as a conduit for the transfer of funds to fuel the insurgency.
"Syria ... needs to take steps to go after those ... elements that may be operating on their territory and they need to play a helpful role with their neighbours," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
"Syria has been out of step with the rest of the Middle East. The Middle East has been leaning more and more in the direction of freedom and democracy," said McClellan.
Damascus said it was doing its utmost to seal its border with Iraq and stop it from being crossed by Syrian and other foreign insurgents.
Syria had prevented 1,240 suspects from crossing into Iraq and extradited most of them to their respective countries, said the ministry.
About 4,000 Syrians "who left or attempted to leave to Iraq to fight there have been investigated", it said.
The United States and Britain had failed to respond to Syrian requests for night vision and radar-based monitoring systems to prevent night infiltrations, said the letter, delivered to envoys by Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed al-Mualem.
Syria said daytime infiltrations were now "a very difficult issue (for insurgents) but the problem of infiltrations still persists to a certain extent during the night because of the lack of necessary technical equipment to monitor the border".
It said Iraq had so far failed to ratify a protocol for security cooperation signed in Damascus in July 2004 and subsequent agreements.
Stability in Iraq was in the interest of Syria because it paved the way for the end of the presence of U.S.-led forces in Iraq, said the letter.
U.S.: Lebanon should disband Hezbollah, armed groups
Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon should be disbanded with the government extending its authority throughout the country, the State Department said Thursday.
Independent armed militia "are not a recipe for success and do not contribute to stability" in Lebanon, spokesman Adam Ereli said.
But a former U.S. ambassador to Syria, Theodore Kattouf, said any Lebanese government that tried to disarm Hezbollah would collapse.
"I think Hezbollah should be disarmed," Kattouf said at the Nixon Center, a private research organization. "But I don't think we should bludgeon Lebanon as its first order of business."
On Wednesday, the State Department said it was prepared to work with the new government taking shape in Lebanon but not with any Hezbollah member named to the Cabinet.
"Obviously, we are going to have to operate within the constraints of our law," Ereli said. "Our policy has not changed" and Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, he said.
The militant group has fought a cross-border unofficial war with Israel from its sanctuaries in southern Lebanon. The State Department says it is armed and financed by Iran, with Syria the conduit for Hezbollah's weapons.
On Thursday, Ereli also called on Syria to stop holding up Lebanese trucks on the border between the two countries.
"Their action now on the border stifling trade is hurting the Lebanese," he said.
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