UK soldiers 'released by Syria'

UK commandos have played a major role

Two British special forces commandos have been released by Syrian authorities after they crossed the border from Iraq, it has emerged.

The pair, believed to be from the Special Boat Service (SBS), had walked about 100 miles across northern Iraq after their platoon was ambushed shortly after Baghdad fell to coalition forces, newspapers said.

The Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office refused to comment on the reports, but a defence source said: "Two British soldiers were held in Syria but have since been released."

The pair's release followed the despatch of a special envoy to Syria by the prime minister.

Officially the men were never listed as missing in action and news of their capture and release has only recently emerged.

Special forces factfile

SBS - sister of the SAS

SAS profile

The incident occurred shortly after a squadron of between 30 and 40 SBS commandos were dropped by helicopter into northern Iraq to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage operations around the Iraqi city of Mosul.

It is believed that part of their job was to cut off any escape route from Iraq that could have been used by leading members of the Iraqi regime.

The two men became separated from their unit when they were ambushed by Iraqi forces and came under heavy fire.

The rest of the unit was rescued by a coalition helicopter, but the pair headed into the hills, travelling through rough terrain, before crossing the Syrian border where they were detained.

Former SAS soldier Andy McNab said the unit would have had an emergency plan if it had been "compromised."

"Helicopters will try and come in and pick them up and if [they] didn't make that emergency pickup then the escape and evasion plan would come in to place."

Syria would have been considered "the nearest country of relative safety" for the pair to head to, Mr McNab said.

The Special Boat Service is a sister force to the more widely known Special Air Service, the SAS.

Members of the Royal Marines are chosen to join the elite band of SBS members only after a gruelling physical and mental selection process.

The focus of their operations tends to be from the sea but they also operate inland and were deployed in Afghanistan last year.