U.S. raid in Syria targeted smuggler of Iraq fighters

'CRIMINAL, TERRORIST' AGGRESSION

The Bush administration, which will leave office in January after the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4, blames Damascus for not doing enough to stem the flow of al Qaeda fighters and other insurgents into Iraq.

But Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on a visit to London it was not possible for Syria to patrol the entire length of its long border with Iraq.

He accused the United States of trying to derail recent diplomatic overtures between Europe and Syria.

"The Americans do it in the daylight. This means it is not a mistake, it is by blunt determination. For that we consider this criminal and terrorist aggression," he told a news conference.

Reuters Television footage showed a small fenced farm and a truck riddled with bullet holes. Blood stained the ground.

Syrian state television showed a building site and a nearby tent with food and blankets and spent bullets laying around.

The official Syrian news agency SANA quoted a survivor, Souad al-Jasim, as saying U.S. soldiers fired on her and her children in the tent.