The Hindu : International : U.S. troops launch fresh Iraq offensive

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Monday, Jun 20, 2005

International

International

U.S. troops launch fresh Iraq offensive

Rory Carroll

Tanks, helicopters fan across the desert for foreign militants crossing the border

BAGHDAD: American troops backed by warplanes and helicopters on Saturday launched one of their biggest offensives in recent months to hunt militants on Iraq's border with Syria.

About 1,000 Marines with tanks and amphibious assault vehicles fanned across the desert near Karabila, a flashpoint town in Anbar province, following a spate of clashes in the area.

``Operation Spear began in the early morning hours, aimed at rooting out terrorists, foreign fighters and disrupting terrorist support systems in and around Karabila,'' said a U.S. military statement.Residents in the nearby city of Qaim reported fierce gun battles and several air attacks. Hospital staff said that six bodies, including that of a woman, had been brought to the morgue by mid- morning. The Muslim Clerics Association, an influential Sunni Arab group, called for businesses to shut and people to stay indoors in Qaim to protest the risk to civilians. ``The U.S. forces are escalating the situation and we will declare a general strike,'' a spokesman, Mudhafar al-Ani, said. Anbar, a vast, sparsely populated province covering western Iraq, has become a supply route for a militancy which has killed more than 1,100 people in the area since a U.S.-backed Government took office on April 28.

Militant strongholds

Fighters, weapons and cash flow across the porous border with Syria, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials, and rebels have turned several towns into strongholds. Last week, militants in Karabila reportedly killed 21 persons, including three by beheading. They were suspected to be missing Iraqi soldiers. Shortly after the bodies were discovered, American planes fired seven missiles and killed 40 fighters at what U.S. officials said was a militant checkpoint. Locals told reporters there had been civilians among the casualties. Thirteen American troops have died in Anbar in the past week. Saturday's offensive, backed by Iraqi troops, signalled a resolve to flush out the guerrillas with ground forces.

The operation came a day after the air force Brigadier General Don Alston called the Syrian border the ``worst problem'' in terms of stemming the influx of foreign fighters to Iraq. Syria is under intense pressure from Washington and Baghdad to tighten control of its border with Iraq. There have been at least three other offensives in Anbar in recent months, each with the same outcome: after brief resistance the militants scatter, the Americans declare victory and return to their bases, leaving Iraqi soldiers and police holding the former rebel strongholds. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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