An illegal U.S. raid in Syria on Oct. 26 left eight civilians dead and outraged the international community. “(It was a) cold-blooded, terrorist, criminal attack for no reason whatsoever,” said Syria’s ambassador to the U.S., Imad Moustapha in an interview with U.S. News & World Report.

U.S. helicopters carrying around 24 commandos entered Syria along the Iraqi border around 4:45 p.m. and landed in a village called Sukkiraya, attacking a building under construction. They opened fire on those inside, killing the eight civilians.

An unnamed U.S. military official claimed in an Associated Press report that the building was the site of foreign al-Qaeda fighters.

The raid violates the Iraqi constitution, which does not allow its land to be used as a base for launching attacks on neighboring countries. The United States also violated international and Syrian law by entering the country without informing Syria and killing civilians.

Moustapha offered several possible explanations for the raid.

“Is this administration trying to jeopardize any possibility of improvement in relations between Syria and any new U.S. administration, because all the signs were pointing in that direction?” Moustapha said to U.S. News & World Report. “Or is it actually trying to serve the domestic electoral campaign right now in the United States, saying, ‘Look at the situation … Iraq is still a very dangerous place. We need to be in Iraq because the neighboring countries of Iraq are still a threat and a danger, and we need to attack them.'”

Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst, also believes this was a political move.

“This is all related to the elections in the U.S. The timing is so close,” said Moubayed, according to TIME Magazine. “Bringing out the ‘terrorist threat,’ magnifying it, projecting it as a monster that needs to be dealt with on the spot … serves nobody but John McCain.”

Andrew Tabler, analyst and editor of Syria Today magazine, disagrees.

“This is coming out of the Army. I don’t think this is a parting shot from the Bush Administration,” Tabler said, according to TIME Magazine.

Iraq, along with several other Middle Eastern countries, condemned the attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

Similar raids have been carried out in nearby countries such as Pakistan, and former U.S. Army officer Andrew Exum said that officials may have simply copied the tactics.

“The precedent has already been established of crossing borders into safe havens,” Exum said. “Operational commanders would have to be thinking, if we can do it in Pakistan, why can’t we do it in Syria?