Iraq's government denounced a US air strike on the Syrian border, but also called for a halt to what it said was insurgent activity in Syria.
"The Iraqi government rejects US aircraft bombarding posts inside Syria," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in the first official Iraqi criticism of the raid.
Syria earlier that the raid had targeted an al-Qaeda operative as alleged by a US official.
"What they are saying is just unjustified. I deny it totally," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said.
He was responding to a US official who said that the raid by US forces inside Syria on Sunday is believed to have killed a major al-Qaeda operative who helped smuggle foreign fighters into Iraq.
At least eight people were killed in the attack which involved strafing by helicopter gunships and the landing of four US commandos to attack a construction site in al-Sukkiraya on the Euphrates river.
Syria's official media dubbed the raid a "war crime". US forces in Iraq "committed cold-blooded murder", the government newspaper Tishrin wrote.
The Syrian foreign ministry summoned US and Iraqi officials to make a formal protest. The dead were said to be a father and his four sons, a couple and another man. Several people were wounded.
Iraq's cabinet agreed today on amendments it will propose to a deal allowing US troops to stay in the country, the government's spokesman said, adding the changes would cover the pact's substance as well as wording.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki "has been authorised to put forward the amended version to the Americans," Ali al-Dabbagh said after today’s cabinet meeting had concluded.
Asked if the amendments were to the wording, Mr Dabbagh said, "Wording yes and some to the content."
The prospect of additional changes to the pact, which will provide a legal basis for the approximately 150,000 US troops in Iraq once a United Nations mandate expires on December 31st, will likely be met with further exasperation by Washington.
After months of intense negotiations, it appeared as late as last week that a finalised agreement was on its way to the Iraqi parliament for a vote. But fierce debate among Iraq's political class, and the proposed amendments agreed upon today, underscore the deep divisions about the foreign military presence more than five years after the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.