Posted on 07/02/2004 4:11:40 PM PDT by MadIvan
SYRIA has stepped up its assistance to insurgents in Iraq and is encouraging both secular and Islamist fighters operating across its border, according to Western and Arab officials.
Despite assurances from Damascus that it is cracking down on cross-border activity, critics claim that Syria’s intelligence services are actively co-operating with members of the former Baathist regime and even with associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian accused of orchestrating a wave of bloody bombings and kidnappings in Iraq.
One well-placed Arab official with experience in Syria said that while Damascus offered assurances that it was working to combat terror, in reality it was doing the exact opposite.
The infiltration is not only limited to Iraq. Jordan has complained to the Syrians that it has intercepted al-Zarqawi’s insurgents and shipments of heavy weapons destined for operations against the authorities in Amman.
“Syria has not got any better on terrorism,” one Arab source said. “We are seeing an increase in cross-border terrorism from Syria. al-Zarqawi even has a lieutenant in Damascus co-ordinating with Syrian Intelligence.”
The problem is particularly acute for the United States-led forces in Iraq, whose troops are on the receiving end of the insurgent trail.
Immediately after the war in Iraq, Syria was accused of facilitating cross-border operations by Arab volunteers seeking to join the Iraqi resistance. After pressure from Washington, the authorities in Damascus appeared to have clamped down on the traffic.
Now there is fresh evidence that the Syrians are engaged in assisting the resistance. Western intelligence agencies believe that elements of the Syrian regime, the last Baathist government in the world, are trying to resurrect the defunct Iraqi Baath party. At least one former senior Iraqi Baathist official has established himself in a large villa in Damascus, where he is recruiting volunteers and sending them over the border to resistance strongholds such as Fallujah and Ramadi. His operations are conducted with the encouragement of the host Government.
A senior American official who spent more than a year in Iraq serving in the coalition said that intelligence showed that Syria remained the main entry point for most foreign fighters. Those captured were “mostly Syrian — there were Sudanese, Yemenis, some Saudis and then the odd Egyptian and Moroccan”.
Certainly, US Intelligence has been impressed by the co-ordination between volunteer fighters entering the country from Syria and the resistance on the ground.
The problem was highlighted by Paul Bremer, the former civilian administrator in Baghdad. He told The Washington Times yesterday about a Yemeni suicide bomber who was arrested in December when his bomb failed to go off after he entered from Syria travelling on a false Syrian passport.
“He had arrived in the country only two days before, and as an analyst of terrorism for some time now, this was quite revealing to me,” Mr Bremer said. “It showed a very high degree of organisation that you could have a guy come across the border and within two days marry him up with a rather elaborate plot. Targets. A 1,000lb bomb built into his car. He has the car. He knows the target. It’s quite impressive.”
Even less-organised “jihadist” volunteers, who simply showed up wanting to fight against Americans, appear to have little difficulty in getting into Iraq and joining the resistance.
“These are people who either answered the call for jihad at the beginning of the war itself, in the kinetic phase of the war, or have come in across rat lines from Syria mostly since then, either answering the call of jihad or just because they want to come and fight the United States,” Mr Bremer said.
Arab officials fear that if the Syrians do not crack down on the terrorist problem, Washington may be tempted to react forcefully. On at least one occasion, US forces in Iraq have been put on stand-by to launch operations across the frontier into Syria.
Relations have been growing steadily worse over the past year. Last month President Bush approved trade sanctions against Syria, accusing Damascus of supporting terrorism, building weapons of mass destruction and demanding that its forces pull out of Lebanon.
Although it is highly unlikely that Washington will take any further action before the US presidential elections in November, further confrontation is inevitable, especially if Mr Bush is re-elected. “The Americans are very concerned. If Bush is re-elected for another four years, I do not think that the Baathists in Syria will survive,” a senior Arab official said.
He said that unless President Assad changed his attitude, “he will get his fingers burnt”.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
It's really good to see you again Ivan! Missed Ya
A mile wide, border length mine field should slow them down.
Then send in the AC130's for a little practice on the stragglers.
The Bush Doctrine will prevail.
Question still remains... wtf are we doing about this?
Time to take out the army and the government of Syria.
Do the job, get out, and do NOT rebuild.
Simple message to the new government: we'll do it again.
That's how to win this war.
Hit hard, hit fast, hit often, hit decisively, and then hit the road with a promise to hit again if they don't get it.
As far as the guys themselves, they are twentysomething males who come across unarmed, with perfectly innocuous cover stories, and seek out the Baathist / jihadist facilitators quite easily. Almost as if they knew back in Syria who to come look for. No way to really tell if they're clean or not until they do something.
The Marines have had a few run ins with the Syrian border guards, as has been reported in the news. I don't suspect that Syria will do anything as overt as Iran, since Assad is a little punk b%#$%. At best, Syria isn't lifting a finger to stop anyone from coming across, but smart money says that they're all but buying them bus tickets.
That's my $0.02, anyway.
May each & every one be greeted with their very own personal 42 grams of 'hello' from America c/o the US military and delivered at 3200 feet per second.
I suspect you mean grains and the 5.56 is now 65 grains.
It's time to drop a JDAM on Assad's house, then claim it was a truck bombing carried out by his internal opponents. Hey, it works for me.
You know what I'm sayin.
ANOTHER good reason to vote for GWB. Seriesly.
Why doesn't one well placed, unmarked, stealth delivered, GPS guided bomb find its way to a Syrian palace in the night?
a big sir-pucking-fries.
Bremer wants a new job -- I hope we give him one.
ping
Give Syria to the Israelites. They are accused of displacing Arabs anyway. Might as well give them a little room and give the arabs something to really gripe about.
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