"Ba za ka iya yin yaƙi a Gabas ta Tsakiya ba tare da Masar ba, kuma ba za ka iya yin zaman lafiya ba tare da Siriya ba." — Henry A. Kissinger. A ranar 26 ga Oktoba, 2008, jiragen sama masu saukar ungulu guda huɗu na Amurka sun tashi kilomita 8

"You can't make war in the Middle East without Egypt and you can't make peace without Syria.” -- Henry A. Kissinger On October 26 2008, four U.S. helicopters flew 8

kilomita cikin Siriya daga Iraki, kuma ya kai hari kan wani gida na gona a Gabashin Siriya. Aikin da Rundunar Musamman ta Amurka ta jagoranta ya kashe mutum takwas, ciki har da yara huɗu, da kuma wani jami'in Al-Qaida mai suna Abu Ghadiya. Nan da nan bayan harin, gwamnatin Siriya ta yi Allah-wadai da harin sosai, tana mai cewa keta ikonta ne, sannan ta ɗauki jerin matakan ramuwa domin nuna fushinta. Waɗannan sun haɗa da janye sojojin Siriya daga kan iyakar Iraki, tara jama'a don nuna fushi ga Amurka, rufe makarantar Amurkawa da cibiyar al'adu ta Amurka. Haka kuma, gwamnatin Al-Assad ta nemi a ba ta ɗan gafara a hukumance da diyya ga waɗanda harin ya shafa. Sai dai, bayan maganganun zafi da aka yi, sabbin bayanai sun fito da ke nuna cewa Siriya tana da hannu wajen harin.

kilometres into Syria from Iraq, and attacked a farm compound in Eastern Syriaxi. The operation led by US Special Forces killed eight people including four children and Al Qaida operative Abu Ghadiya. Immediately after the raid, the Syrian regime vehemently denounced the attack as a violation of its sovereignty and carried out a series of retaliatory measures in protest. This included the removal of Syrian troops from the Iraqi border, mobilization of crowds to vent anger against America, closure of the American school and the US cultural centre. Additionally, Al-Assad’ s regime demanded an official apology and compensation for the victims. However, beyond the fiery rhetoric, new details have emerged that suggest Syria’ s complicity in the attack.

A ranar 2 ga Nuwamba, 2008, jaridar Turanci ta The Times ta bayyana cewa Syria ta ba da izinin kai farmakin, kuma lokacin da aikin ya lalace, hukumomin leken asirinta na sirri, wadanda aka sani da mummunar sunansu, sun cika yankin don share barnar da kuma hana mazauna kauyen magana. Jaridar ta kara bayyana cewa yankin gonar ya zama aljanna ga mayakan jihadi, wadanda ke samun 'yanci wajen horo da zirga-zirga ta kan iyakar Iraki. Wasu daga cikinsu suna magana da lafazin Iraki mai kauri. Wadannan bayanai ba sabbi ba ne, kuma suna tabbatar da zato na dogon lokaci cewa Syria tana taimakon Amurka a boye wajen daidaita Iraki.

On November 2 2008, the English newspaper, The Times revealed that Syria had given permission for the raid to go ahead and when the operation was bungled, Syria’ s notorious secret intelligence services flooded the region to clear up the mess and muzzle local villagers. The paper further disclosed that the farm area was a heaven for jihadi fighters who were free to train and move across the Iraqi border. Some spoke with thick Iraqi accents. The revelations are not new and confirm long standing suspicions that Syria is covertly assisting America to stabilize Iraq.

Bayan faɗuwar Saddam, Iraqawa da yawa sun bar Iraki, suka nemi mafaka a Siriya. A yanzu adadinsu ya kai kusan miliyan 1.5. Karƙashin kulawar Amurka, Siriya ta kafa sansanonin horon mayaka don ɗaukar Iraqawan 'yan gudun hijira da horar da su zama mayaka, da manufar bayyananniya ta shiga cikin ƙungiyoyin juriya na Iraki, samar da bayanan sirri na lokaci-lokaci ga jami'an Amurka, da aiwatar da ayyukan sirri a cikin Iraki, musamman waɗanda ke ƙarfafa rikicin mazhaba. Siriya ta kuma kafa wuraren binciken ababen hawa kowane kilomita 4 a kan iyakar da ke makwabtaka da Iraki. Ta hanyar waɗannan ƙoƙarye-ƙoƙarye, gwamnatin Siriya ta iya sa ido da bin diddigin mayakan jihadi da ke ketare iyaka. Wannan tsari ya haifar da kama dubban mayakan juriya masu zaman kansu, da kuma kashe wasu manyan maƙasudai da dama, na baya-bayan nan shi ne Abu Ghadiya.

After the fall of Saddam, many Iraqis fled Iraq and sought refuge in Syria. At present their numbers stand at approximately 1.5 million. Under American auspices, Syria set up militant training camps to recruit and train the Iraqi refugees into fighters with the explicit purpose of infiltrating the Iraqi resistance, providing real-time intelligence to US officials, and executing covert operations in Iraq, especially those that encourage sectarian discord. Syria also established checkpoints every 4 kilometres along the border that abuts Iraq. Through such endeavours the Syrian regime was able to monitor and keep track of jihadi fighters moving across the border. This arrangement resulted in the arrest of several thousand independent resistance fighters as well as the elimination of several high value targets— latest addition being Abu Ghadiya.

Daga baya, Siriya ta iya, zuwa wani mataki, kwantar da iyakar Iraki ta yamma tare da taimakawa wajen tabbatar da ikon Amurka a yankin. Don ba gwamnatin Iraki mai goyon bayan Amurka, wacce ke cikin mawuyacin hali, karin halascin siyasa, Siriya kwanan nan ta maido da alakar diflomasiyya tare da aika jakadanta na farko zuwa Baghdad cikin shekaru 26. Ba abin mamaki ba ne, to, cewa a watan Satumba Jalal Talabani, shugaban Iraki, ya gaya wa ubangidansa, Shugaban Amurka George Bush, cewa Siriya ba ta sake zama matsala ga tsaron Iraki ba. To idan Siriya ba ta da barazana, to me ya sa Amurka ta kai wannan harin?

Subsequently, Syria was able to some extent pacify Iraq’ s western border and aid America’ s control over the area. To provide greater political legitimacy to Iraq’ s ailing pro- American government; Syria recently normalized diplomatic ties and sent its first ambassador to Baghdad in 26 years. Not surprisingly then, that in September Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, told his master US President George Bush that Syria no longer posed a problem to Iraqi security. So if Syria posed no threat then why did the US conduct the raid?

Ana ganin cewa an tsara lokacin harin ne domin cimma manufofi uku. Na farko, Amurka ta samu muhimman bayanai da suka taimaka wajen kama Abu Ghadiya. Ƴan makonni kafin haka, an kama wasu mayaƙa a Baquba, wani sansani na mayakan Al-Qaida a Iraki, kuma bayanan da aka samu daga gare su ne suka sa aka kai samamen. Na biyu, janye sojojin kan iyakar Siriya yana taimakawa Amurka wajen matsa wa Iraƙawa lamba su rattaba hannu kan sabuwar yarjejeniyar tsaro da za ta ci gaba da ajiye sojojin Amurka a Iraki bisa doka har zuwa shekarar 2011. Na uku, Amurka ta yi amfani da samamen wajen sanar da faɗaɗɗen manufarta ta yaƙin rigakafi.

It appears that the timing of the attack was meant to achieve three objectives. First, America was presented with valuable information to apprehend Abu Ghadiya. A few weeks before, several militants were captured in Baquba a base for Al-Qaida fighters in Iraq and information gained from them prompted the raid. Second, the removal of Syrian border troops is helping America pressurize the Iraqis to sign up to a new security pact that will keep US forces formally in Iraq till 2011. Third, America exploited the raid to announce its much expanded pre-emptive war doctrine.

A ranar 28 ga Oktoba a Cibiyar Carnegie ta Zaman Lafiya ta Duniya (CEIP), Sakataren Tsaro na Amurka Robert Gates ya bayyana cewa "Amurka za ta riƙe duk wata ƙasa, ƙungiyar ta'addanci, ko wani mai ƙungiya ko mutum wanda ba na ƙasa ba, cikakken alhakin goyon bayansa ko taimakonsa ga ƙoƙarin ta'addanci na samun ko amfani da makamai masu kisan gilla." Hare-haren kan iyaka da sojojin Amurka da ke zaune a Iraki da Afghanistan suka kai wa Siriya da Pakistan, na ɗaya daga cikin alamomin wannan tunani.

On October 28 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), US Defence Secretary Robert Gates declared that "the US will hold any state, terrorist group, or other non-state actor or individual fully accountable for supporting or enabling terrorist efforts to obtain or use weapons of mass destruction.” The crossborder raids against Syria and Pakistan from US forces stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan is a manifestation of this strand of thinking.

Haɗin gwiwar Siriya da Amurka ba a iyakance ta ga Iraki kawai ba, tana kuma shimfiɗa zuwa Lebanon da Falasɗinu. Goyon bayan da Damascus take bai wa ƙungiyoyin da ke goyon bayan Siriya a Lebanon, da kuma yunƙurin Siriya na neman zaman lafiya da Isra'ila, an tsara su ne don sauƙaƙa wa Amurka riƙe yankin a hannunta sosai.

Syria’ s collusion with America is not just limited to Iraq but extends to Lebanon and Palestine. Damascus’ s support of pro-Syrian factions in Lebanon and Syria’ s peace overtures to Israel are designed to facilitate America’ s stranglehold over the region.

Nuwamba 3, 2008

November 3, 2008