We will retaliate if borders violated again, says Syrian FM

BAGHDAD, IraqiNews.com: A U.S. military raid inside Syria was an act of “criminal and terrorist aggression”, Syria’s foreign minister said on Monday. Speaking at a news conference in London, Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem warned of retaliation if Syria’s borders were violated again. He said Syria “would defend our territories” if there were a repeat of the weekend raid. The U.S. military said it was targeting the network of al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria to help fight in Iraq. Syria said troops in four helicopters attacked a building and killed eight people, including four children. “They know full well that we stand against al-Qaeda,” Mr al-Muallem said. “They know full well we are trying to tighten our border with Iraq.” He was in London today for talks with the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. The two were supposed to hold a joint press conference but this was cancelled at the last minute. The Foreign Office said that it had been agreed with the Syrians that it would “not be appropriate” to hold a formal press conference following their talks in London. A spokeswoman said the press conference had been abandoned because both sides had been concerned that it would be dominated by questions about the U.S. raid. The Foreign Office confirmed that the meeting between Mr Miliband and Walid al-Muallem, the Syrian foreign minister, was still going ahead as planned. Mr al-Muallem called for a new US administration to “learn from the mistakes of this administration.” “I hope the American people would elect a president who can bring a good reputation in the world, not like this reputation we are witnessing in this administration,” he said.   SH (S)/SR   1