US confirms deadly military incursion into Syria; timing raises questions

According to the UK's Telegraph, a US military official has confirmed the military incursion into Syria from across the Iraqi border -- an attack condemned by the Syrian government as "serious aggression."

The raid was confirmed by a US official in Washington, who said it targeted elements of a network supplying foreign fighters to Iraq from North Africa and the Middle East.

Offering details previously unavailable, the Telegraph revealed:

The US official told the Associated Press that while there had been considerable success dealing with "rat lines" conveying militants into Iraq near the Euphrates River, the part of the network involving elements of the Syrian army had been out of reach.

"The one piece of the puzzle we have not been showing success on is the nexus in Syria," the official said. "We are taking matters into our own hands."

The Telegraph points out that the US had reported recent gains in border security:

The flow of foreign fighters into Iraq has been cut to an estimated 20 a month, a senior US army intelligence official said in July, a 50 per cent decline from six months earlier.

Prior to the reported US confirmation of the attack, the BBC had speculated as to the timing of such an attack, only 9 days before the US presidential elections, point out that the US had at that point not confirmed the raid:

But its timing is curious, coming right at the end of the Bush administration's period of office and at a moment when many of America's European allies - like Britain and France - are trying to broaden their ties with Damascus.

Whatever the local military factors involved in this US operation, it would be unthinkable to imagine that an incursion into Syria would not require a policy decision at a high-level.

The Telegraph points out that Washington has been resistant to efforts at a diplomatic breakthrough between the US and Syria:

Washington has even been lukewarm to Turkey's efforts to broker a peace deal between Israel and Syria.

All of this is in marked contrast to European efforts to engage the Syrians.

With French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the lead, a number of European countries have sought to bring Syria in from the cold.

But despite glimmerings of dissent from the State Department, the Bush administration has held firm to its policy of no substantive talks with Syria unless - as the Americans put it - Damascus decides to take a more "positive role" in the region.

The BBC ends on this note of speculation:

With the Bush administration on the way out, this US military incursion may represent something of a parting shot against the Syrians.

It's clear that if Senator Barrack Obama were to win the White House, his key advisers are among the strongest advocates of engaging with the Damascus across a broad spectrum of issues.