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A picture released by the US Marines Corps shows an Apache flying over Al Qaim to provide air support for US-led forces involved in the new offensive.
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BAGHDAD,
November 5, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – While
Muslims around the globe continued to celebrate `Eid Al-Fitr, which
marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, the US and Iraqi
troops launched Saturday, November 5, a new onslaught in western
Iraq.
"The
objectives of Operation Steel Curtain are to restore security along
the Iraqi-Syrian border and destroy the al Qaeda in Iraq terror
network operating throughout Qusayba," the US occupation army
said in a statement.
About
3,500 US and Iraqi soldiers closed roads and clamped down on movement
around the towns of Qaim and Qusayba, residents told Reuters, as
Iraqis celebrated `Eid Al-Fitr.
The
operation is one of the biggest in a series of offensives this year in
the Sunni Arab western province of Anbar.
Iraqi
cities with Sunni majority have been a favorite target for US-led
onslaughts over charges that Sunnis were feeding the Iraqi resistance.
After
destroying half of Al-Karabla city in Al-Anbar, the US forces decided
to withdraw from the semi-erased city on Monday October 24, 2005.
The
Iraqi army announced Thursday, September 22, the end of the
"successful" Tal Afar offensive, which involved 6,000 Iraqi
soldiers, backed by 4,000 US troops and claimed the lives of 157
"rebels".
Al-Anbar
was one of two Sunni provinces that voted massively against the
controversial Iraqi constitution in October 15 referendum, with 96.96%
of voters giving the document the thumb-down.
Training
Iraqis
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Al-Anbar has been a favorite target for US-led onslaughts over charges that Sunnis were feeding the Iraqi resistance.
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The
US military statement said 1,000 Iraqi troops, including specially
trained scout platoons recruited from the Qaim region, were taking
part in the joint operation with 2,500 US forces.
"Operation
Steel Curtain marks the first large-scale employment of multiple
battalion-sized units of Iraqi Army forces in combined operations with
coalition forces in the last year," the statement said.
The
operation "is the largest concentration of Iraqi Army forces to
take part in an operation in Al-Anbar this year," it added.
Steel
Curtain follows two earlier operations, Iron Fist and River Gate, also
along the Euphrates valley in the restive western Sunni Arab province
of Al-Anbar.
Operation
Iron Fist targeted the area around Qaim in October just before the
constitutional referendum.
US
authorities have repeatedly accused Syrian authorities of allowing
foreign fighters of using their territory as a staging post and a safe
haven, charges vehemently refuted by Damascus.
Syrian
authorities reported in late October several clashes between security
forces and "terrorists" in June and July, saying 1,400
militants of different nationalities had been arrested and returned to
their home countries.
Iraqis
have been urged to give their zakah (obligatory alms) to fellow
countrymen in Al-Anbar province.
The
UN special rapporteur on the right to food has recently accused the
US-led occupation forces of starving Iraqis civilians in besieged
cities and depriving them of water to force them.
"A
drama is taking place in total silence in Iraq , where the coalition's
occupying forces are using hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon
of war against the civilian population," Jean Ziegler told a
press conference Friday, October 14.
