Debka says the “Syrian” bus we blew up was filled with Palestinian fighters.

Debka ^

[DWPittelli]

I know we all have reason to be skeptical of Debka, but this is interesting if true:

Away from the main arena, a small yet illuminating scene played out just across the Iraqi border Monday morning. Syria complained that a stray American missile had struck a bus killing five civilians and injuring ten.

According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the only true fact in this terse account was that the bus was Syrian. The missile was no stray. It was deliberately fired from an F-15 fighter-bomber at a bus carrying armed Palestinian volunteers to join up with Iraqi forces, in order to make sure this was the last such Palestinian group of volunteers for Iraq. That F-15 made a piece of history; it carried out the first American air attack on a combatant Palestinian group. More will certainly be heard of this episode.

Has anyone heard any details on this story (perhaps from the Arab press) which might confirm or refute?

[Bigg Red]

Don't trust Debka, but I hope they're right about this one.

[hsmomx3]

I found this story bizarre from the beginning. What would a bus be doing traveling during a war? Strange timing.

[gridlock]

I really want to believe DEBKA on this one, but I will stick with my policy and not believe any DEBKA report until I see it corroborated by the Weekly World News!

[Teetop]

I haven't heard anything about it being filled with palestinian fighters. But if it was, I would love to buy that pilot & WSO some drinks!

[freedomlover]

I would be suprised if a busload of Palestinians didn't explode by itself.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Hm....Sweet, if it's true.

[Psycho_Bunny]

lololol

[jern]

I read DEBKA with a grain of salt, but how is it more or less accurate than FR?

[kevao]

DEBKA says many things.

[Busywhiskers]

"I really want to believe DEBKA on this one, but I will stick with my policy and not believe any DEBKA report until I see it corroborated by the Weekly World News!"

OR National Enquirer.

[Jonez712]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is Debka and why should it not be trusted?

Anyway, it would make sense if that were the case. I can't imagine a missile going off course that badly, if at all, and then landing exactly where a Syrian bus happens to be. Ninety percent of all munititions used in this war are precision-guided.

[js1138]

I heard this last night. Not about the occupants being Palestinian, but that it was deliberate.

[ambrose]

Take DEBKA with a grain of salt -- but one can only hope, 'eh?

[Dog Gone]

No way this is true.

[bray]

A busload of Palestinians wouldn't blow itself up unless half the bus were schoolchildren. Get Real! Hope all the seats were full and a few on the roof.

Pray for GW and Our Troops

[Sabertooth]

Syrian Volunteers Reportedly Head for Iraq
Mar 24, 2003

Summary

Busloads of Syrians have reportedly left Syria to fight alongside Iraqi soldiers. If true, this would be an astounding development on Damascus' part, as it would be tantamount to declaring war on the United States.

Analysis

The BBC has reported that busloads of Syrian volunteers have left Syria to fight alongside Iraqi soldiers. The network offered no further details regarding the numbers involved or on Damascus' position on their actions. However, while Syria has stated its opposition to the war, Damascus has been extremely cautious in avoiding the impression of providing material support to Iraq. Even tacit approval of Syrian volunteers in Iraq would be tantamount to siding with Iraq in its war with the United States. That would be a tremendous gamble on the outcome of the war.

Damascus certainly would prefer the United States not successfully occupy Iraq. Were that to occur, Syria would be surrounded by U.S. and allied forces to the north, south and east, severely limiting its diplomatic and military options. However, since U.S. forces already are deployed to Iraq, en route and available, it would be difficult to argue at this time that Iraq will emerge from this war victorious. Coalition troops have faced some resistance, but not enough to justify a Syrian gamble on a U.S. loss.

Sources in Syria report that tens of thousands of Syrian volunteers are pressing Damascus to allow them to cross the border to help their Iraqi brethren fight the U.S. Army. The government is reportedly refusing, as it fears U.S. anger and has already been warned by Washington. But the sources say that hundreds of young Syrians, many of them former soldiers with the Syrian army, are successfully finding their way to Iraq -- either crossing the desert on foot or camel or by bribing border guards.

There is one anomaly that could support the BBC report of busloads of volunteers leaving Syria to fight. According to Syria's SANA news agency, a U.S. warplane fired a missile at a busload of Syrian nationals in Iraq at 1000 local time March 23. The bus was carrying 37 laborers, purportedly returning to Syria from jobs in Iraq, when it was attacked near Ar Rutbah, roughly 100 miles from the Syrian border. Five of the passengers died and at least ten were wounded in the attack. Regarding the alleged attack, a CENTCOM spokeswoman said only that the United States selects its targets carefully and uses precision-guided munitions to avoid civilian casualties.

This could be an accident and a coincidence. After all, according to SANA, the bus was returning to Syria, not traveling to Baghdad. But one last nagging fact emerged: One of those wounded in the attack was transferred to his hometown of Hamma. Hamma was the site of an Islamist uprising in 1982, which was brutally suppressed by then-President Hafez al Assad. Now, just because someone comes from a town that was a hotbed of Islamist activism two decades ago, when he was an infant, doesn't mean he is either an Islamist or inclined to volunteer for a war against U.S. forces in neighboring Iraq.

Just to weave in two more tenuous threads of circumstance, we note that last year there were reports of secret Iraqi-Syrian security negotiations and of the transfer of Iraqi arms to Syria and Syrian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. And on March 21, U.S. aircraft bombed the Iraqi town of Akashat, near the Syrian border. There were subsequent reports in the Lebanese and Chinese press of U.S. special operations forces skirmishing with Iraqis in that town. There were no reports of Syrian involvement, and the town is reportedly the site of weapons of mass destruction manufacturing facilities. It could have been targeted for reasons having nothing to do with Syrian volunteers.

While Stratfor sources confirm that Syrian volunteers are attempting to reach Iraq, the BBC allegations of busloads pouring out of the country are difficult to believe and can be bolstered only by the thinnest of circumstances. A few busloads of Syrian volunteers would do nothing to shift the course of the war in Iraq, but would draw U.S. wrath after the war if the coalition emerged victorious. The only conditions under which Damascus would allow volunteers to join Iraqi forces would be if they knew the battle was stacked against CENTCOM or if they were also planning to send significant forces to shift the course of the battle. Neither seems likely, but the situation in Syria is worth monitoring.
(STRATFOR) FR link

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[San Jacinto]

Well, they are bound to be right about the central point. "The missle was no stray." The idea of a "stray" missle hitting a moving bus going down the highway is prety absurd.

[Nick Danger]

The only problem with this theory is that the bus was headed to Syria from Iraq.

[Eva]

We heard yesterday that there was such a bus headed toward Iraq. We also heard that there was a bus that was described as a civilian bus that turned out to be Fedayeen in civilian clothes. Maybe this is what they meant.