Anti-U.S. sentiment grows in Syria after raid

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By Brooke Anderson

The U.S. incursion into Syria late last month put this eastern border town near Iraq on the world stage and many of its residents on edge.

"At the beginning of the war, we were scared. Then we got used to it. Now we're scared again - and angry," said Yusef Tara, who spoke to a reporter near the site of the Oct. 26 U.S. commando raid against an alleged al Qaeda in Iraq hideout that Damascus says killed eight civilians.

In this tightly controlled police state that had been trying to change its image and end years of global seclusion, protest groups are now allowed to stage anti-American rallies. And even though YouTube is banned, video footage of four U.S. helicopters carrying out the raid is making the rounds on cell phones.

The anti-American sentiment is in sharp contrast to months of toned-down rhetoric against the Bush administration as the two countries edged toward serious talks. The United States had been pleased that Syria accepted Iraqi refugees, made peace overtures to Israel, established full relations with Lebanon and shared intelligence about al Qaeda radicals. Two months ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met in New York with her Syrian counterpart, Walid Moallem, in the highest-level talks between the two nations since 2005.

At the same time, the United States accused Syria of not doing enough to curb the flow of militant fighters from Syria into Iraq.

Now, the local media refers to the United States in language reserved for Israel after a military operation in the West Bank or Gaza Strip - war crimes, martyrs, terrorists and deaths of innocent civilians.

"This is the first time in Syrian-U.S. bilateral relations since 1945 (the year diplomatic relations were established) that the Americans attacked Syria," said Sami Moubayed, a political analyst in Damascus, Syria's capitol. "The raid makes it difficult for bilateral relations."

After the incursion, Al-Arabiya television reported that Iraqi troops had increased the number of personnel near Abu Kamal, a town of about 30,000 residents that borders Iraq's Anbar province and has no paved roads, daily power outages and cement homes with dirt floors. Syria also sent additional troops to the frontier, but has since withdrawn them to reduce security cooperation with the United States, officials say.

At the site of the raid, a large cement building under construction along the Euphrates River, there is an eerie calm as military police stand guard in an isolated area accessible by a bumpy, dirt road.

U.S. officials say the raid killed Abu Ghadiyah, an Iraqi who they believe was a top al Qaeda in Iraq militant operating a network that smuggled fighters into Iraq to carry out suicide bombings and other operations. They say several of his bodyguards were also killed.

As Saoud Rak Khalif entered the building, he viewed dried blood, shattered glass and walls pockmarked with bullet holes. His brother Ahmed, a 21-year-old construction worker, died during the raid by U.S. Special Forces.

"They did to us what they're doing to the Iraqis," Khalif said. "I have nothing against the American people. But they attacked civilians. This is terrorism."

Another fatality was Ali Abbas Ramadan, whom family members described as a 35-year-old construction site guard.

"I was in a tent when the helicopters came. The (American) soldiers came to inspect it. I don't know why," said 7-year-old Mariam Ramadan, Ramadan's daughter. "They were speaking a foreign language, and I didn't understand anything."

Syria has demanded that Washington apologize for the strike and has threatened to cut off cooperation on Iraqi border security. The government has also ordered all foreign staff of the American Language Center and American Cultural Center in Damascus to leave the country, and postponed a Nov. 12 meeting of a joint Syrian-Iraqi committee in Baghdad to improve troubled relations.

Baha Rakad, a member of the Human Rights Association in Syria, has pledged to file a lawsuit in Syrian courts against President Bush and the Pentagon on behalf of the victims of the raid.

Meanwhile, political analyst Moubayed points out that Syria's response to the raid has so far been restrained and that President Bashar Assad has expressed hope that Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election will bring "constructive dialogue."

"We did not expel the U.S. charge d'affaires, nor recall our ambassador," Moubayed said. "We are keeping room for future dialogue with President Obama."