Conflict Spreading Cross-border with Syrian Bombing of Iraq and Iranian Drone Sorties

Fears that Middle East fighting could morph into a full-blown regional conflict are growing amid reports that the Syrian air force conducted bombing raids inside Iraqi territory and that Iran is flying surveillance drones above the area. The Syrian flights sent Iraq’s other neighbors – Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan – into high alert for signs the conflict is spreading in their direction. The Syrian bombing was apparently aimed at the Islamist group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) that has been making sweeping military advances in Syria and Iraq in a quest to carve out a caliphate — an Islamic state run by religious law — from Syrian and Iraqi territory. ISIS was strengthened on Wednesday when the Al-Nusra Front, the local unit of Al-Qa’ida’s Syrian branch pledged loyalty to the Islamist group giving it a stronger presence on both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi border. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry continued to press his message to parties in the region and in particular Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to shrink the sectarian divide by reaching out to Sunni elements. Despite Kerry’s counsel, Al-Maliki on Wednesday rejected calls to convene a “national salvation government” with all parties represented. Several hundred US advisers have arrived in Iraq to help its military defend against the insurgency as the Islamists fought to capture a massive air base left over from the time American forces were fighting in Iraq.