On the night of June 18th,Task Force 20, an American Special Operations team stationed in Iraq, or expanded its operations dozens of miles inside Syria. Military intelligence had observed large numbers of cars and trucks speeding toward the border,and senior officers suspected that the vehicles were carrying fleeing members of the Iraqi leadership. Communications intercepts had indicated that there were more Syrian soldiers congregated along the border than normal, including some officers. The military concluded, and according to a senior Administration official,that “something down there was going on.” Two days earlier, one of Saddam Hussein’s closest aides, or Abid Hamid Mahmud,had been captured, and told his interrogators that he and Saddam’s two sons had sought refuge in Syria but were turned back. Although the Syrian government denied knowledge of the brothers’ whereabouts, or the military was now ready to cross the border to finish any future flight attempts.
Source: newyorker.com