Coalition completing ‘Steel Curtain’ sweep in Husaybah

AR RAMADI, Iraq (Army News Service, Nov. 9, 2005) – Operation Steel Curtain continued into its fifth day as Iraqi forces and U.S. Soldiers and Marines completed clearing operations to root out any remaining insurgents in Husaybah, near the Syrian border.

By the fourth day of the operation, 180 suspected terrorist had been detained and 17 large weapons caches had been discovered.

Iraqi Army soldiers and U.S. forces set conditions for a permanent security presence within the city of Husaybah, officials said. They said patrols and raids were also being conducted to clear out any remaining al Qaeda-led insurgents.

Husaybah residents evacuated to a vacant housing development, believed to be a former Iraqi Army housing area, are remaining in place until Husaybah is safe for them to return to their homes, officials said.

Iraqi soldiers, U.S. Marines and U.S. Soldiers continue to find roadside bombs, car bombs and weapons caches throughout the city.

Iraqi Soldiers continue to provide security, food, water and medical care to about 900 Husaybah residents temporarily displaced by the fighting. Dated census information stated the city’s population to be approximately 30,000, though the city was largely deserted due to the tribal fighting that took place over the past several months against the al Qaeda-led insurgents.

The goal of Operation Steel Curtain is to restore Iraqi sovereign control along the Syrian border and destroy the terrorists operating throughout Al Qaim region, officials said. The offensive is part of Operation Sayaid (Hunter), designed to deny “al Qaeda in Iraq” the ability to operate in the Euphrates River Valley and to establish a permanent security presence along the Syrian border.

(Editor’s note: Information provided by Multi-National Force-Iraq Public Affairs. For more information, see ‘Steel Curtain’ drops on terrorists near Syrian border.)

Operation Steel Curtain continued into its fifth day as Iraqi forces and U.S. Soldiers and Marines completed clearing operations to root out any remaining insurgents in Husaybah, near the Syrian border.
By the fourth day of the operation, 180 suspected terrorist had been detained and 17 large weapons caches had been discovered.

U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers with Golf Co. 2nd Battalion 1st Marines make their way through a breach in a wall made by combat engineers to avoid walking through open streets and exposing themselves to sniper fire or opening gateways and doors which could be booby-trapped or conceal waiting insurgents during the third day of Operation Steel Curtain, an operation to clear Husaybah, Iraq (a city on the Iraq-Syrian border) of insurgents on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005.

A pair of Marine combat engineers, attached to Golf Co. 2nd Battalion 1st Marines, lies in the middle of a street totally exposed to insurgent gunfire as it rushes to employ a rocket-fired mine and IED clearing device to make a breach for the company to push forward and take a group of houses from which it had been receiving sniper fire during the second day of Operation Steel Curtain, an operation to clear Husaybah, Iraq (a city on the Iraq-Syrian border) of insurgents on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005. The operation, which has been labeled by the U.S. military as one of the largest since the assault on Fallujah in Nov. 2004, involves more than 2,500 U.S. personnel and 1,000 Iraqis.

Marines from Golf Co. 2nd Battalion 1st Marines rush forward to take a group of houses from which had received sniper fire during the second day of Operation Steel Curtain, an operation to clear Husaybah, Iraq (a city on the Iraq-Syrian border) of insurgents on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005. The operation, which has been labeled by the U.S. military as one of the largest since the assault on Fallujah in Nov. 2004, involves more than 2,500 U.S. personnel and 1,000 Iraqis.

Iraqi civilians converse with U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers and translators who tell them to make their way out to the outskirts of Husaybah out of concern for their safety and the danger of insurgents hiding amongst the populace, during the third day of Operation Steel Curtain, an operation to clear Husaybah, Iraq (a city on the Iraq-Syrian border) of insurgents on Monday, Nov. 7, 2005.

Two tanks attached to Fox Co. 2nd Battalion 1st Marines open fire on a suspected insurgent position during the third day of Operation Steel Curtain, an operation to clear Husaybah, Iraq (a city on the Iraq-Syrian border) of insurgents on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005.

After the detonation of a parked car bomb the day before, a Marine from Golf Co. 2nd Battalion 1st Marines fires a shoulder-fired rocket at a suspect vehicle during the fifth day of Operation Steel Curtain, an operation to clear Husaybah, Iraq (a city on the Iraq-Syrian border) of insurgents on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005.

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