2:18PM EST: UPDATE IN EXTENDED ARTICLE According various Middle-East reports, residents in a Syrian border town near Iraq report that US forces have killed seven men in a helicopter-borne commando attack inside Syria.

Doctors in a town approximately eight kilometres from the Iraqi border, said seven corpses and four wounded had been delivered to a nearby clinic after the attack.

Eyewitnesses reported to local media 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 US helicopters then left Syrian airspace with all the soldiers again on board.

There was no initial US comment about the reported incident. If confirmed, it would be the first time that US forces had carried out an attack on Syrian soil.

Reuters reported that the official Syrian news agency SANA did not identify the helicopters but said the attack took place in the Bou Kamal border area, in eastern Syria.

Further details on this developing story will be forthcoming……

UPDATE 4:45PM EST: Reports regarding an American assault inside Syria, about 8 kilometers (4.8 miles) east of the Iraqi border, are based on Arab media networks, including the officials Syrian Sana Agency and al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite news network.

As was reported earlier, four American helicopters neared the border and two hovered to give cover for ground forces, presumably an elite US unit. The ground force according to the Syrian media fired “at innocent people” working near the border, killing at least seven and leaving others wounded. One speculative report supported by Israel’s Channel 10 News states perhaps the force was targeted al-Qaeda operatives about to cross into Iraq and the American special force was acting on credible intelligence information.  The Reuters agency reports there are a number of children among the dead.

According to Syria’s al-Dunia agency, the attack occurred in the village of Al Sukkiraya, east of the capital, adding 9 people were killed and 14 wounded. The report stresses all the victims are civilians.

The attack comes two weeks after the Bush administration released statements it is reevaluating its isolation policy regarding Syria. Relations between Damascus and Washington have deteriorated significantly since the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Washington immediately pointed the finger of blame at Syria, realizing Damascus continues attempting to spread its influence in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region, with close ties to the radical elements including Hizbullah and Iran. To date, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad indicates he is unwilling to cut ties with Iran, and Damascus continues efforts to obtain advances ballistic missiles and anti-aircraft systems from Russia. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, during a recent visit to Russia, announced he succeeded in preventing such a weapons deal from taking place.

On September 6, 2007, Israel’s air force reportedly targeted a nuclear reactor built in Syria in cooperation with N. Korea. The Americans announced after the fact that President Bush knew of the attack before it occurred, signaling White House support for the move, followed by a January 2008 NY Times report which confirmed a nuclear facility was targeted, later backed up by the release of satellite imaging. The information was also confirmed in a CIA report to a US congressional subcommittee.

Much speculation surrounds the news of this American military assault across the Syrian border, perhaps related to reports released earlier in the day by YWN of suspicious and unexplained activity along Israel’s northern border as well as along the border in southern Lebanon involving UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) forces. Those reports too were based on sources in Lebanon, totally ignored by the Israeli media.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel News Desk)