Captured Syrians Will Be Returned, U.S. Says

Five wounded Syrian guards seized by U.S. forces during a raid on a convoy near the Iraqi border will be returned as soon as the details can be worked out, a Defense Department official said Friday.

Nine days after the American special operations forces attacked a suspicious convoy, U.S. officials are still not saying how the border guards were hurt.

“All five are now together, have been treated, are ambulatory and are awaiting return, which we expect will be as soon as we can work [it] out,” said Lawrence DiRita, special assistant to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Pentagon’s acting chief spokesman.

DiRita added that he did not know when repatriation would take place or why it was taking so long and that it was largely in the hands of the U.S. Embassy in Damascus.

On Wednesday, the Syrian Arab News Agency said the government in Damascus had demanded that the United States “return ... the wounded soldiers to continue their treatment at a Syrian hospital to avoid any misunderstanding that might lead to an escalation that both sides do not desire.”