Thanksgiving in Syria

DEBKAfile ran a story yesterday about a possible US Army incursion into Syria while chasing enemy elements from Iraq. The soldiers allegedly exchanged fire with Syrian forces, and there were casualties. Most news organizations sat on the story, not particularly trusting DEBKAfile as a source. Today the London Telegraph picked up the story with more detail:

Major General Amid Suleiman, a Syrian officer, said that American cross-border attacks into Syria had killed at least two border guards, wounded several more and prompted an official complaint to the American embassy in Damascus.

I can imagine McClellan might have a lousy Monday, trying to explain how we're not really at war with Syria (even though we are, in a de facto kinda way).

"No one in the administration has any problem with acting tough on Syria; it is the one thing they all agree on," said Edward Walker, a former US ambassador to Egypt and Israel, who is now head of the Middle East Institute think-tank. "I've heard there have been some cross-border activities, and it certainly makes sense as a warning to Syria that if they don't take care of the problem the US will step up itself."

Reports say these incursions are about chasing "al-Qaida" elements. But really, what would Syria want with AQ? Syria is a socialist pan-Arabic Ba'athist state. Why wouldn't the Syrians be shooting at the fundies as they ran across the border? They appear to have more in common with the Soviet Union than Saudi Arabia.

It's true that Syrian Ba'athism was often at odds with the Iraqi version, but with push coming to shove it's possible they have mended fences. The recent operations in Tal Afar netted only a handful of foreign jihadists--most were Iraqis. However, we do know some foreign fighters have entered through Syria. We might conclude then that Syrian complicity in helping further this human transit amounts to providing Iraq with ordnance to prolong the war, with a goal of their own self-preservation. That would certainly explain why Iraqi fighters, AQ or otherwise, have been allowed to escape across the border-- and why our troops are now "misfiring" rounds across that same border.