Nov
23
Syria Complicit In U.S October Raid
Filed Under Syria, U.S Foreign Policy, raids
Remember that U.S air strike in Syria toward the end of October that targeted Abu Ghadiyah, the man who conducted the traffic of arms and Qaeda fighters into Iraq?
Remember the ensuing outrage that we were t
reated to every morning in our newspapers?
Well, turns out the Syrians may have been wise to the entire affair, and may have even provided support for the operation. According to Richard Sale of the METimes:
In spite of much angry public protest in Damascus, last month’s killing of top al-Qaida operative Abu Ghadiya, was in fact a joint operation between U.S. Special Forces in Iraq and Syrian intelligence, according to former and serving U.S. intelligence officials.Abu Ghadiya, a smuggler who for years had moved money, weapons and insurgents into Iraq from Syria, was killed by a U.S. helicopter raid on Oct. 26. Seven civilians were killed with him, and the resulting furor was immediate: Russia and the Arab League strongly protested the raid, and Syria accused the United States of “criminal and terrorist aggression” and lodged an official protest, according to U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. Syria ordered the American School in Damascus closed.
But Syria’s alleged anger was calculated to conceal Syrian complicity in the operation. Although the attack is still officially “classified,” serving and former U.S. intelligence officials told the Middle East Times that Syria gave U.S. forces permission to fly into its airspace and even provided extensive targeting intelligence on Abu Ghadiya. “Syrian intelligence couldn’t have been more cooperative,” said a former senior CIA official.
McCormack recently referred to this new cooperation in veiled language that acknowledged Syria had taken “positive steps” to play a more constructive role in the region even though “there’s still a ways to go.” He did not expand his point.
There’s been speculation of this for a few weeks, but this is the most conclusive article I’ve read on the matter yet. Check out this article from the Guardian at the beginning of this month. Sources also suggest then that Syria had expected the airstrike and that its airforce had authorized the passage of U.S hellicopters into Syrian territory. Perhaps more interesting, the article mentions how an incursive kidnapping operation expected to be bloodless managed to go wrong:
In the time-honoured tradition of covert US operations in the Middle East, this one seems to have gone spectacularly wrong. The Syrians, who had agreed to turn a blind eye to a supposedly quiet “snatch and grab” raid, could not keep the lid on a firefight in which so many people had died.
The operation should have been fast and bloodless. According to the sources, Syrian intelligence tipped off the Americans about Abu Ghadiya’s whereabouts. US electronic intelligence then tracked his exact location, possibly by tracing his satellite telephone, and the helicopters were directed to him. They were supposed to kidnap him and take him to Iraq for questioning.
According to defence sources, when the four US helicopters approached the Syrian border, they were detected by Syrian radar. Air force headquarters in Damascus was asked for permission to intercept.
After an Israeli airstrike against a suspected nuclear reactor in the same region last year, Syrian air defence has been on high alert. The request was turned down by senior officers because the American operation was expected.
It is not clear what went wrong, but it is believed that the helicopters were spotted by the militants on their final approach and a gun battle broke out. That is supported by an account from a local tribal leader, who said a rocket-propelled grenade had been launched from the compound at the helicopter. The firefight blew the cover on a supposedly covert operation.
Ninety minutes after the raid, according to a local tribal leader, agents of the feared Mukhabarat, the Syrian intelligence service, flooded into the village. “They threatened us that if anyone said anything about what happened in this area, their family members would die,” he said.
So the operation’s cover was blown, and the Syrians went into damage control (i.e. denial and victimhood). Either way Syrian complicity in the operation, should we choose to assume that its true, sheds new light onto U.S-Syrian relations (which are improving at the expense of the latter’s political reform) and provides another sign which the future U.S administration will seize upon to make a deal with the Assad regime. While this is not the first example of intelligence sharing between the two countries (intelligence ties were cut off following the assasination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005), it is a sign that the Syrian leadership wants to remain in control and would be willing to negotiate its alliances should the right offer come its way. Whether or not extending an offer would be the right move is debatable, but this window of opportunity will likely get a few passers-by to stop and peak through over the next four years.
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Wow. Very interesting.