U.S. says raid in Syria targeted smuggler

By Marwan Makdessi

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - A raid by U.S. forces inside Syria on Sunday is believed to have killed a major smuggler of foreign fighters into Iraq, a U.S. official said on Monday, as Syria condemned the attack as "terrorist aggression."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity about the raid, in which residents and Syrian officials said U.S. troops landed by helicopter and killed eight civilians.

A second U.S. official said U.S. forces had targeted only people they considered a threat and that women and children were alive at the site when they left.

The Pentagon and the White House have refused to officially confirm or deny U.S. involvement in the incident, which alarmed France and Russia. Both countries called on the United States to respect Syria's territorial sovereignty.

If confirmed, it would be the first U.S. military strike inside Syria since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Syria says four helicopters attacked al-Sukkari farm in the Albou Kamal area in eastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border, and that U.S. soldiers stormed a building there.

The first U.S. official said the raid targeted Abu Ghadiya, a former lieutenant of al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006.

"It was a successful operation," the U.S. official said by telephone. "He (Abu Ghadiya) is believed to be dead. This undoubtedly will have a debilitating effect on this foreign fighter smuggling network."

'CRIMINAL, TERRORIST' AGGRESSION

The Bush administration, which will leave office in January after the U.S. presidential election on November 4, blames Damascus for not doing enough to stem the flow of al Qaeda fighters and other insurgents into Iraq.

But Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on a visit to London it was not possible for Syria to patrol the entire length of its long border with Iraq.

He accused the United States of trying to derail recent diplomatic overtures between Europe and Syria.

"The Americans do it in the daylight. This means it is not a mistake, it is by blunt determination. For that we consider this criminal and terrorist aggression," he told a news conference.

Reuters Television footage showed a small fenced farm and a truck riddled with bullet holes. Blood stained the ground.

Syrian state television showed a building site and a nearby tent with food and blankets and spent bullets laying around.