Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, general secretary of
the Organization of Islamic Conference, on Wednesday condemned last
Sunday's US attack inside Syria as Damascus took issue with Saudi
Arabia's official silence on the issue.

In a declaration from OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Ihsanoglu held
the US responsible in the deaths of innocent civilians in Sunday's
helicopter-borne commando raid on a remote Syrian border region village
in which the US said it killed an Iraqi militant.

Syria's state-run media said eight civilians, including four children, were killed in the raid.

The incident has meanwhile further increased tensions between Syria
- and ally of Iran - and Saudi Arabia as Damascus has taken offense to
Riyadh having not yet condemned the attack.

"Those who in their palaces have remained silent, these we will
forget, just as they will be forgotten by history," wrote Syria's
state-run al-Thawra newspaper on Wednesday.

Another Syrian state-run daily, Tishrin, warned Arab states such as
Saudi Arabia that are allied to the United States "that the US has only
a single friend in the region, and that is Israel." (dpa)