Al-Qaeda claims killing of 48 Syrian soldiers in Iraq Baghdad has consistently avoided joining calls for the departure of Assad, against whom rebels are battling, instead saying it opposes arming either side and urging an end to the violence that has ravaged Syria for the past two years, leaving at least 70,000 people dead. But the deadly ambush in its territory threatens to entangle Iraq in the Syrian conflict. Baghdad is caught between conflicting pressures over Syria - its powerful eastern neighbour, Shiite Iran, backs Assad's regime, while the United States and many Arab states want the Syrian president to bow to opposition demands and step down. The March 4 ambush was not, however, the first time the conflict has crossed the border into Iraq. Fire from Syria killed an Iraqi soldier in the country's north on March 2 and a young girl in western Iraq in September. US officials have also repeatedly called on Iraq to stop allowing overflights by Iranian planes that Washington says are being used to transport weapons to Assad's forces. On March 3, the Syrian National Council, a key opposition group, alleged that Iraq "gave political and intelligence support to the Syrian regime." And like other countries bordering Syria, Iraq has seen the arrival of a flood of refugees fleeing the conflict - more than 109,000, according to the United Nations, most of whom are located in northern and western Iraq.