Syria calls US diplomat in controversy over US raid (Roundup)

Oct 29, 2008, 17:15 GMT

Damascus - The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned on Wednesday the US charge d'affaires in protest at a military raid on Syria, Syrian news agency SANA reported.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said it was waiting for clarification from the Iraqi and US governments on the raid that killed eight people near Syria's border with Iraq. Syria called the raid 'unacceptable for Syria's sovereignty' and said it could take measures in response. No further details were given.

Syrian officials summoned charge d'affaires Maura Connelly to inform her of the closing of a US school and a cultural institution the day before.

Meanwhile, diplomatic sources in the US embassy in Syria stated that they did not receive any official document that confirms the closing of the American Cultural Center and the American School.

Sunday's raid which the US said targeted an al-Qaeda leader in Syria has been condemned by a number of Arab states and Iran, which fears that the US would use Iraq as a base for attacks on neighboring countries.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, general secretary of the Organization of Islamic Conference, on Wednesday also condemned the US attack in a declaration from OIC headquarters in Jeddah.

Ihsanoglu held the US responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians in the helicopter-borne commando raid. Syria's state-run media said eight civilians, including four children, were killed in the raid.

The incident has meanwhile further increased tensions between Syria - an ally of Iran - and Saudi Arabia as Damascus has taken offense to Riyadh having not yet condemned the attack.

'Those who in their palaces have remained silent, these we will forget, just as they will be forgotten by history,' wrote Syria's state-run al-Thawra newspaper on Wednesday.

Another Syrian state-run daily, Tishrin, warned Arab states such as Saudi Arabia that are allied to the United States 'that the US has only a single friend in the region, and that is Israel.'