Syria condemns US raid as 'outrageous' - BBC

Syria accused the United States of committing an "outrageous crime" in killing eight civilians during a helicopter attack on a Syrian farm near the border with Iraq.

Syria has said four US helicopters assaulted the al-Sukkari farm in the Bou Kamal area in eastern Syria on Sunday and that US soldiers stormed a building in the area.

The United States, which accuses Syria of failing to stem the flow of al Qaeda fighters and other insurgents crossing into Iraq, has neither confirmed nor denied the incident.

"This is an outrageous crime and an act of aggression, of course," Syria's press attache at its embassy in London, Jihad Makdissi, told the BBC.

"If they (the United States) have any proof of any insurgency, instead of applying the law of the jungle and penetrating, unprovoked, a sovereign country, they should come to the Syrians first and share this information," Makdissi said.

"This administration ... have proved to be irrational and they have no respect for international law or human rights. We expect a clarification, and of course Syria reserves the right to respond accordingly in the proper way."

Reuters Television footage showed a half-acre (0.45 hectare) fenced farm and a truck riddled with bullet holes. Blood stained the ground. Syrian state television showed columns of a building under construction and a nearby tent with food and blankets. Spent bullets lay around.

"Four helicopters came from different directions and hovered. Two of them landed and soldiers got out and started shooting," Osama Malla Hameed, who owns a farm nearby, told Reuters.

"They stayed for about four minutes and then departed," said Hameed, whose farm is about 300 metres from where the raid occurred. His nephew, who was on a motorcycle nearby, was hit in the hand.

Syria's foreign ministry has summoned the US charge d'affaires in Damascus to protest about the raid.

Syria has also urged the Iraqi government to carry out an immediate inquiry into the attack and to ensure that Iraq was not used for "aggression against Syria", the state news agency SANA said.

- Reuters