ABU DHABI Ñ Arab diplomatic sources reported earlier today that U.S. air strikes over the
weekend took place within 15 kilometers of the Iraqi-Syrian border.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would not
target Syria for military attack. But on Sunday, Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz warned that Syria would bear the consequences for any
military aid to Iraq.
"They are doing some things they shouldn't be doing, and the sooner they
stop the better it will be for them," Wolfowitz said in an appearance on
U.S. television. "I think the Syrians need to know though that what they do
now they'll be held accountable for."
Meanwhile, the U.S. military has refused to confirm reports that
coalition forces severed the Iraqi-Syrian oil pipeline, Middle East Newsline reported.
"I don't want to characterize specifically what work is being done,"
Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, deputy director of operations for U.S. Central
Command, said on Sunday.
Last week, the Kuwaiti daily Al Rai Al Aam quoted U.S. sources as saying
that special operations forces bombed the pipeline and halted the flow of
oil.
"We know that we want to preserve the oil
infrastructure of Iraq," Brooks said. "We have been focused on doing that throughout
the conduct of our operations, and we are not going to do things within our
power to put that future, that resource, at risk. I should just leave it at
that."
