By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

Damascus, Syria – The Syrian regime has reportedly carried out shelling attacks against militants fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS) in Iraq. At least 57 Iraqi civilians were killed and more than 120 others wounded by an attack that local officials say was carried out by Syrian warplanes that struck several border areas in Anbar providence on Tuesday.

Sabah Karkhout, the leader of Iraq’s Anbar provincial council, told the press that Tuesday’s airstrikes struck markets as well as fuel stations in area. “Unfortunately,” he said Wednesday, “the Syrian regime carried out barbarian attacks against civilians in Anbar province.”

Local officials said residents used scopes and other equipment in an attempt to see details on the warplanes to determine where they came from. Karkhout said he was certain the warplanes were Syrian claiming that they bore the image of the Syria’s flag. “Also, the planes flew directly from Syrian airspace and went back to Syria,” he said. The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said on Wednesday that the warplanes that bombed the Iraqi border cities were not Iraqi jets, but he added that he did not have additional information.

However, the spokesperson for Iraq’s military, Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, has denied reports that Syrian warplanes struck border towns inside of the state of Iraq. “We know our airspace. We have not recorded or registered infiltration of our air space from foreign jets, and all the warplanes and helicopters flying over Iraq airspace are Iraqis,” he said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, has welcomed Syrian jets bombings targeting ISIS militants. However, al-Maliki’s government has acknowledged the strikes but insists they were carried out within the Syrian territory. Al-Maliki’s Shia government has accused Sunnis of collaborated with militants and has criticized the call for a more representative national government that would give more of a voice to Iraq’s minorities and would ultimately remove him from office.

Both the U.S. and a senior Iraqi military official confirmed that Syrian warplanes had struck militant positions on Tuesday in and around the boarding crossing at the town   of Qaim. White House Spokesperson Joshua Earnest said that the United States had “no reason to dispute” the reports that the Syrian air force had struck inside Iraqi territory.

In response to these developments U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Mideast nations on Wednesday against taking new military action in Iraq that might further inflame sectarian tensions. The Iraqi military official said Iraq’s neighbors – Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – were all reinforcing flights inside their own airspace in order to monitor the situation. The Iraqi official spoke on a condition of anonymity because he had not been authorized to speak to the media.

While addressing diplomats from NATO countries “We’ve made it clear to everyone in the region that we don’t need anything to take place that might exacerbate sectarian divisions that are already at a heightened level of tension.” He said, “it’s already important that nothing take place that contributes to the extremism or could act as a flash point with respects to the sectarian divide.”

For more information please see:

The Guardian – Isis: Maliki Hails Syrian Air Raids in Iraq As Leaving Both States ‘Winners’ – 27 June 2014

CNN International – Syrian Warplanes Reportedly Strike In Iraq, Killing 57 Civilians – 26 June 2014

CBS News – Kerry Warns Mideast Nations after Syria Bombs Iraq – 25 June 2014

The Washington Post – Syrian Aircraft Bomb Sunni Militant Targets Inside Iraq – 25 June 2014