Posted on 10/04/2005 2:06:28 AM PDT by jmc1969
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces launched their biggest offensive so far this year against al Qaeda guerrillas in western Iraq when 2,500 troops moved on Tuesday against militants around Haditha, the military said in a statement.
Two months after a previous bid to push Islamist fighters out of the area, Operation River Gate was intended to stop al Qaeda operating in the city and two nearby towns, Haqlaniya and Barwana, and to "free the local citizens from the terrorists' campaign of murder and intimidation", it added.
The towns are among several in the Euphrates valley where local people have said fighters have taken control and imposed Taliban-style Islamic rule, despite frequent offensives by U.S. forces.
During Operation Sword in August, about 1,000 U.S. troops fought militants in Haditha and its neighboring towns, 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
Some 2,500 U.S. troops with some Iraqi soldiers were taking part in the latest crackdown, making it the biggest of the year in Anbar, the sprawling desert province of western Iraq, the military said in its statement.
Separately, about 1,000 troops have been fighting Qaeda militants near Qaim on the Syrian border, a further 120 km (75 miles) to the west, since Saturday in Operation Iron Fist.
"There are now two major operations going on simultaneously," a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said.
In its statement on Haditha, the military said: "The operation's goal is to deny al Qaeda in Iraq the ability to operate in the three Euphrates River Valley cities and to free the local citizens from the terrorists' campaign of murder and intimidation of innocent women, children and men.
(Excerpt) Read more at olympics.reuters.com ...
Man, I hope this operation catches lots of scum in some pincers and wipes them out. They have been playing cat-and-mouse for too long, if I read the news correctly.
Godspeed to your son..
If you look at the pattern of operations now, it looks like we setting up a trap to force all the foreign fighters in the western region into one area, one town ahead of the Oct. 15th referendum.
The border is now sealed, massive troop movements taking town by town moving west. Classic hammer and anvil move.
Nice thought.
The MSM is going to feel ambushed by the outcome of these operations. Their side will be losing, and the MSM is going to be asking how it happened without them knowing.
Blind people reporting the news.
Compare the situation today to a year ago, when Fallujah, the gateway to Baghdad which lies east of Ramadi, was the headquarters of jihad - Zarqawi's Islamic Republic. Much of the Sunni Triangle was described as a no-go zone and there was fear of a Shiite uprising. Today the jihadis are forced to declare their Islamic republics further west - in backwater farming towns and border outposts such as Haditha, Qaim, and formerly Sada. Operation Hunter, of which Operation Iron Fist is but a part, is designed to push the Coalition's control of Anbar all the way to the Syrian border.
This is a comment you will not even hear on Foxnews never mind the other MSM but it is true.
prayers up
Prayers for your son and his buddies. Thank him for his service to our country.
Good luck to your son, and good luck and good hunting to my sniper friend McKN.
The two spots I ALWAYS visit for information are Roggio and Wretchard (www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com). And Michael Yon, when he posts, cannot be surpassed for detail.
Thanks for the Wretchard (www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com) link.
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