PDA

View Full Version : Insurgents Assert Control Over Town Near Syrian Border


aricbcool
09-06-2005, 10:38
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090500313_pf.html

Insurgents Assert Control Over Town Near Syrian Border
Zarqawi's Forces Kill U.S.-Allied Iraqis And Impose Strict Law, Witnesses Say

By Ellen Knickmeyer and Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, September 6, 2005; A20

BAGHDAD, Sept. 5 -- Fighters loyal to militant leader Abu Musab Zarqawi asserted control over the key Iraqi border town of Qaim on Monday, killing U.S. collaborators and enforcing strict Islamic law, according to tribal members, officials, residents and others in the town and nearby villages.

Residents said the foreign-led fighters controlled by Zarqawi, a Jordanian, apparently had been exerting authority in the town, within two miles of the Syrian border, since at least the start of the weekend. A sign posted at an entrance to the town declared, "Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Qaim."

In other developments Monday, the U.S. Army warned noncombatants to leave a portion of the northeastern city of Tall Afar ahead of an expected assault on an insurgent stronghold there. Car bombs and other political violence around Iraq killed at least 33 Iraqi civilians and security force members. A U.S. soldier and two British troops also were killed, officials said.

The report from Qaim, about 200 miles west of Baghdad, marked one of insurgents' boldest moves in their cat-and-mouse duels with U.S. Marines along the Euphrates River. U.S. forces have described border towns in the area as a funnel for foreign fighters, arms and money into Iraq from Syria.

Insurgents have occasionally made similar shows of force, such as the takeover of a Baghdad neighborhood for a few hours late last month by dozens of gunmen. They then slipped away, having made the point that they can muster men as well as plant bombs. The weekend takeover of Qaim extended already heavy insurgent pressure on the people there and came after the U.S. military said it had inflicted heavy bombing losses on foreign-led fighters.

Marines conducted heavy airstrikes in the past week on suspected insurgent safe houses in the area. Ground fighting has also been reported between Zarqawi's group and Sunni Arab tribes more open to the Iraqi government and U.S. military.

Capt. Jeffrey Pool, a Marine spokesman in Ramadi, capital of the western province that includes Qaim, said he had no word of unusual activity in Qaim. Marines are stationed just outside the town, and no Iraqi government forces are posted inside, Pool said.

Witnesses in Qaim said Zarqawi's fighters were killing officials and civilians whom they consider to be allied with the Iraqi and U.S. governments or anti-Islamic. On Sunday, the bullet-riddled body of a young woman dressed in her nightclothes lay in a street of Qaim. A sign left on her corpse declared, "A prostitute who was punished."

Zarqawi's fighters have shot and killed nine men in public executions in the city center since the start of the weekend, accusing the men of being collaborators with U.S. forces, said Sheik Nawaf Mahallawi, a leader of the Albu Mahal, a Sunni Arab tribe that had clashed earlier with the foreign fighters.

Dozens of families were fleeing Qaim every day, Mahallawi said.

For local fighters now, "it would be insane to attack Zarqawi's people, even to shoot one bullet at them," the tribal leader said. "We hope the U.S. forces end this in the coming days. We want the city to go back to its normal situation."

Many of the towns along the river have been subject to domination by foreign-led fighters, despite repeated Marine offensives in the area since May. Residents and Marines have described insurgents escaping ahead of such drives, and returning when the offensives end.

The U.S. attacks are credited with helping disrupt insurgent networks and reducing the number of car bombings and suicide attacks in the rest of Iraq.

U.S. and Iraqi officials in recent weeks have welcomed reports of local Sunni Arabs challenging the presence of foreign fighters. But the accounts from Qaim indicated a setback.

The Albu Mahal tribe remained in control of its village outside Qaim, residents said. However, a car bomb placed by Zarqawi's fighters killed a tribal leader, Dhyad Ahmed, and his son on Sunday, said a resident, Mijbil Saied.

Fighters loyal to Zarqawi openly patrolled the streets of Qaim with AK-47 assault rifles and grenade launchers. The fighters included both Iraqis and foreigners, including Afghans. They draped rooftops with Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq banner of a yellow sun against a black background.

Residents said insurgents in recent weeks had begun enforcing strict Islamic law, burning shops that sold CDs and a beauty parlor, and lashing men accused of drinking alcohol. They said Zarqawi's fighters were killing government workers but had spared doctors and teachers.

Karim Hammad Karbouli, 46, said he had stood among small crowds of nervous residents watching the insurgents, waiting Sunday for his brother to come with a pickup truck so they could load up his household and leave. Karbouli said he feared both Zarqawi's fighters and U.S. bombs.

The director of the town's hospital has ordered patients to leave the facility, said Muhammed Ismail, a physician at the hospital. Zarqawi's fighters had taken control of the hospital, and the director feared it would come under U.S. attack, Ismail said.

In Tall Afar, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers entered the fourth day of an offensive against insurgents who have controlled large sections of the city for nearly a year. On Monday night, soldiers dropped leaflets from helicopters in the eastern neighborhood of Sarai, where commanders believe insurgents are entrenched, warning noncombatants to evacuate the area.

About 5,000 soldiers from the Army's 3rd Armored Reconnaissance Regiment and the Iraqi army's 3rd Division continued advancing toward Sarai from all directions, searching homes, confiscating weapons and interrogating residents.

Early Monday morning, six members of an elite U.S. special operations unit were wounded in what was to have been a raid on the home of a suspected insurgent leader, according to U.S. commanders. Members of the unit, which is charged with searching for high-level insurgents, and the Army in Tall Afar would not provide details.

Tall Afar, a city of more than 200,000 about 40 miles from the Syrian border, is considered a logistical hub for insurgents operating across the country.

A roadside bomb killed one soldier in the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Tall Afar on Monday, and two British troops were reported killed by another roadside bomb in southern Iraq.

In Baghdad, insurgents launched a dawn attack on the Interior Ministry, killing two police officers, officials said. Other political violence Monday in Baghdad killed at least 13 civilians, the Associated Press reported.

A roadside bomb and other attacks killed four oil workers associated with a northern oil company in Kirkuk. Insurgents have mounted frequent attacks to disrupt Iraq's oil exports.

Mortar fire hit a residential neighborhood in the central city of Baqubah, killing six civilians, said Ahmed Fouad, a hospital physician. Eight other civilians were killed by a car bomb in the western town of Hit, the AP said.

In ongoing political negotiations, President Jalal Talabani said in a statement that he and the other top Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, had agreed to changes in the draft constitution. The changes would ease concerns among Arab countries that the wording of the draft loosened Iraqi ties to the Arab world.

The language at issue describes Iraq as an Islamic -- but not Arab -- country, a concession to non-Arab Kurds, who form about 15 percent of the Iraqi population.

rubberneck
09-06-2005, 10:49
I guess they failed to learn their lesson in Fallujha.

aricbcool
09-08-2005, 11:03
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168770,00.html

200 Insurgents Nabbed in Iraq

TAL AFAR,Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi forces have encircled the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar, and the Iraqi military on Thursday announced the arrest of 200 suspected insurgents — most of them foreign fighters.

The Iraqi military said 150 of those arrested Wednesday in this town near the Syrian border were Arabs from Syria, Sudan, Yemen and Jordan.

The joint forces have reported heavy battles on the outskirts of the city and several bombings that have mainly killed civilians. Iraqi authorities reported most of the civilian population had fled the city, which is 260 miles north of Baghdad and about 35 miles from the Syrian border.

"Our forces arrested 150 non-Iraqi Arabs yesterday in addition to 50 Iraqi terrorists with fake documents as they were trying to flee the city with the [civilian] families," Iraqi army Capt. Mohammed Ahmed said.

"We ordered the families to evacuate the Sunni neighborhood of Sarai, which is believed to be the main stronghold of the insurgents," Ahmed said

Eight civilians were killed in the city Wednesday by a homicide car bomber at an Iraqi checkpoint, he said. On Thursday, the U.S. military said the combined American-Iraqi force had killed seven insurgents in the past two days.

Tal Afar is 90 percent Turkmen, and 70 percent of them are Sunnis. After the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the United States installed a largely Shiite leadership in the city, including the mayor and much of the police force.

The Sunnis have complained of oppression by the government and have turned to the insurgents — who are mainly fellow Sunnis — for protection.

ghuinness
09-10-2005, 22:15
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=6076698&cKey=1126380016000

Iraq govt says storms city, closes Syria border

By Nameer Nouredeen

TAL AFAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's government said it launched thousands of troops against rebels in the city of Tal Afar on Saturday and ordered the nearby border with Syria closed to stem what Baghdad calls an influx of foreign fighters.

Keen to show off the muscle of their U.S.-trained forces, ministers said other towns were in the line of fire and state television ran repetitive footage from recent days in Tal Afar of Iraqi soldiers hunting and detaining men described as rebels.

Residents reported U.S. air strikes overnight, gunfire and an encirclement of U.S. armour in parts of the town as Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari announced an offensive had begun.

"At 2 a.m. today (2300 BST), acting on my orders, Iraqi forces commenced an operation to remove all remaining terrorist elements from the city of Tal Afar," he said in a statement.

jatx
09-11-2005, 07:40
I am beginning to detect a bit of a swagger from the Iraqi forces. Wonder where they got that? :)

Sweetbriar
09-11-2005, 13:16
Thanks for the timely updates on the activities in this area. I have a most dear friend up there training the Iraqi Army. I like to hear how his (and all our troops') efforts are paying off.

aricbcool
09-12-2005, 23:01
No prob, Sweetbriar. With all this talk of Katrina, news of Iraq is getting scarce. And it's such good news too!

Here's more:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169072,00.html

Iraqi PM Tours Battle-Scarred City

TAL AFAR, Iraq — Iraq's prime minister toured the ancient northern city of Tal Afar on Monday — ignoring an alleged Al Qaeda threat to strike with chemical weapons — to congratulate Iraqi forces for rousting militants from their stronghold near Syria, Iraqi television reported.

In Baghdad, a huge car bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in the upscale Mansour neighborhood Monday night, witnesses said. Hospital officials reported at least two people were killed and 17 were wounded. A doctor at Yarmouk Hospital said most of the victims were women.

Al-Iraqiya television, which showed no pictures, said Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was in the Tal Afar area despite an insurgent threat to unleash chemical and biological weapons against the force of 5,000 Iraqi soldiers and commandos, backed by 3,500 troops from the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry regiment, who stormed into the city Saturday.

The offensive "was a great shock to Al Qaeda. They were thrown off balance and issued this threat. We will be on the lookout," Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said at a news conference.

Militant positions were found mainly deserted Sunday, and the invading force discovered a network of tunnels below the city through which the insurgents were believed to have fled to the surrounding countryside.

The offensive, however, exacted a heavy toll on the insurgents, leaving almost 200 suspected militants dead and more than 315 captured, Iraqi military officials said. (emphasis added)

Forty insurgents were killed in fierce clashes between militants and Iraqi troops who raided suspected hideouts late Monday afternoon. The raids were launched in response to a roadside bombing that targeted an Iraqi patrol earlier in the day, killing one soldier and wounding three, said Capt. Mohammed Ahmed, an Iraqi army spokesman in Tal Afar. Ahmed said 27 militants were arrested.

Before the afternoon clash, Brig. Gen. Abdul Aziz Mohammed-Jassim had said 157 suspected insurgents were killed in clashes with Iraqi forces over the course of the operation. He said 292 militants were arrested. In all, at least six Iraqi soldiers and six civilians died in the fighting, he said.

No American soldiers were reported killed in the fighting. (emphasis added)

Al-Iraqiya reported that al-Jaafari was in Tal Afar in defiance of "a terrorist threat to attack the city with chemical and biological weapons."

There was no known public threat from the insurgents to use unconventional weapons in the area, but they have issued two Web postings since Friday, vowing to use chemical weapons against U.S. and Iraqi government interests in Baghdad. The threats mentioned the Green Zone that houses the U.S. Embassy, Iraq's parliament and government offices.

Also, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, posted audio Sunday on the Internet accusing U.S. and Iraqi forces of using poison gas in the Tal Afar offensive. The authenticity of the tape could not be independently verified, but the voice was similar to other postings attributed to the Jordanian-born militant.

"The Crusaders mobilized their big armies and used the most destructive and lethal weapons and the most deadly and hurtful poison gas together with their stooges," he said. "But God made them drink at the hands of the mujahedeen the different kinds of death and made them face horrible things that they will never forget."

U.S. officials consistently have denied using poison gas in warfare.

In a new Web posting Monday, an insurgent group offered a bounty of nearly $200,000 for the deaths of al-Jaafari, Jabr and Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi in retaliation for the Tal Afar offensive.

The Islamic Army in Iraq, which previously claimed responsibility for kidnappings and killings of foreigners, called on its "holy fighters to strike the infidels with an iron fist." It offered $100,000 for killing al-Jaafari, $50,000 for Jabr and $30,000 for al-Dulaimi.

"What the American forces and Iraq's traitors, the tails of the infidels, did in Tal Afar is a genocide to the Sunni people in this great city," the statement said.

In the days leading up the Tal Afar offensive, U.S. forces carried out airstrikes and joined the Iraqi army in encircling the city about 60 miles from Syria.

The insurgent fighters, thus, had plenty of warning the city would be attacked and fled the onslaught in a classic guerrilla retreat. Tal Afar has now been swept clear of extremists for the second time in a year.

"The terrorists had seen it coming (and prepared) tunnel complexes to be used as escape routes," said Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, deputy chief of staff for coalition forces.

Signaling their frustration in having to repeat the assault on the city, Iraqi and U.S. military leaders vowed to redouble efforts to crush insurgents operating along the Syrian frontier and in the Euphrates River valley.

As Baghdad kept a border crossing into Syria, al-Dulaimi issued a warning: "The Syrians have to stop sending destruction to Iraq. We know the terrorists have no other gateway into Iraq but Syria."

A Syrian Foreign Ministry official reacted angrily Monday, rejecting the Iraqi claim as "absolutely untrue." The official SANA news agency in Damascus did not name the official it quoted as saying, "Iraqi officials are fully aware that Syria is exerting all-out efforts to control the borders."

The United States and Iraq routinely charge that Syria's government does little to stop the flow of Arab fighters across the border.

Al-Dulaimi said the offensive in Tal Afar would be a model as his forces soon thrust farther west toward the Syrian border and south into the Euphrates valley.

"We are warning those who have given shelter to terrorists that they must stop, kick them out or else we will cut off their hands, heads and tongues as we did in Tal Afar," al-Dulaimi added, apparently using figurative language.

Most of Tal Afar's residents — 90 percent of them Turkmen — fled before the fighting, and tens of thousands are living in tent cities to the north and east. Food, water and medical supplies are scarce.

"This camp is suffering from the lack of medicine. I need an ambulance to evacuate the critical cases," said Dr. Abdullah Jassem, the only physician at a camp near the village of al-Alouliyah. The Iraqi and Turkish Red Crescent societies have rushed aid to the refugees.

Sigi
09-13-2005, 10:09
"What the American forces and Iraq's traitors, the tails of the infidels, did in Tal Afar is a genocide to the Sunni people in this great city," the statement said.
You wouldn't know the accurate definition of genocide if it shot you in the face.

aricbcool
09-13-2005, 18:42
***Note: I've rearranged the article by paragraphs in an effort to include info. relavent to the offensive first, other Iraq developments second. ***

The article in it's original format can be found here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169220,00.html

U.S. Forces Strike Insurgents in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. forces along the Euphrates River attacked the insurgent stronghold of Haditha early Tuesday, capturing a militant with ties to Al Qaeda in Iraq and killing four others, the military said.

The assault on Haditha followed a recent offensive to retake Tal Afar, another northern town, which U.S. commanders said netted more than 400 suspected militants. The Iraqi military said its troops had detained 36 others, including a Yemeni citizen, just south of Tal Afar.

(pasted from below)
Associated Press Television News video of the aftermath of the Haditha attack showed at least three demolished homes. There were no American casualties, the military said.

"Coalition Forces engaged the terrorists and called in close air support. Coalition aircraft destroyed one of the vehicles being used by one of the terrorists," the statement said.

Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, is one of a series of towns in the Euphrates River valley controlled by militants.

On Monday, officials said the insurgent death toll in three days of fighting in Tal Afar totaled 200. Seven Iraqi soldiers and six civilians also died; the U.S. military said no American soldiers were hurt.

"Now, (the guerrillas) are just trying to save themselves by hiding in houses and communities," said Col. H.R. McMasters, commander of the American contingent from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. "The enemy no long enjoys any kind of a safe haven or a support base in the city."

"This operation was very precise. We've had access to all the terrorist safe havens," said Brig. General Muhsen Yahya, commander of the Iraqi Army's 1st Brigade in Tal Afar.
(end paste)

In southern Iraq, a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of Iraqi security guards and foreign contract workers outside Basra, killing four people, police said. While one Iraqi official said the four dead were Americans, U.S. officials were unable to confirm the report.

President Jalal Talabani, meanwhile, said in Washington that Iraq will not set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

At a news conference with President Bush, Talabani said U.S. forces are still needed in Iraq, despite some calls in the United States to start bringing them home.

"We will set no timetable for withdrawal. A timetable will help the terrorists," Talabani said. He said he hopes that Iraqi security forces will be ready to take over responsibility for the country by the end of 2006.

Bush also renewed criticism of Syria, accusing Iraq's neighbor of not doing enough to control the flow of fighters across the border. He said he would speak with U.S. allies with the aim of getting Damascus to change its behavior.

"The Syrian leader must understand we take his lack of action seriously," he said. "The government is going to be more and more isolated." (emphasis added)

The Bush administration's top envoy in Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, warned Monday that the U.S. is running out of patience with Damascus and refused to rule out a military strike against Syria or punishment through the United Nations.(emphasis added)

Insurgents in Baghdad shelled the heavily fortified Green Zone, with two mortar rounds exploding near a military hospital inside the protected area that houses the Iraqi government, parliament and foreign missions, but there were no reports of casualties. Security inside the Green Zone was boosted earlier this month after reports that bombers were trying to penetrate the area.

(cut and pasted above)

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari flew to Tal Afar on Monday to congratulate his army, and Al-Iraqiya state television said he went despite insurgent threats "to attack the city with chemical and biological weapons."

There was no known public threat from the insurgents to use unconventional weapons in Tal Afar, but militants made two Internet postings in recent days vowing to stage chemical attacks on the Green Zone.

The Islamic Army in Iraq, which has previously claimed responsibility for kidnappings and killings of foreigners, made a bounty offer for the assassination of key Iraqi officials.

The militant group called in a Web posting for its "holy fighters to strike the infidels with an iron fist." It offered $100,000 to the killer of al-Jaafari, $50,000 for the interior minister and $30,000 for the defense minister.

Iraq's U.S.-trained forces and U.S.-backed government are waging their own media offensive, using the Tal Afar operation to position themselves as a confident and strong team leading the fight to wipe out insurgent forces.

"I met today with the commander of the 3rd Division in Tal Afar and his officers and soldiers and found them in high spirits," al-Jaafari said. Hundreds of Iraqis danced, sang and waved flags as the prime minister toured the region.

In the Basra bombing, APTN video showed a wrecked SUV at the side of the highway about 20 miles south of the city, near the town of Zubair. British soldiers and Iraqi police blocked off the area.

Capt. Mushtaq Kadim of the Basra Rapid Response Unit said the four dead were Americans. But U.S. diplomatic and military officials in Baghdad were unable to confirm the report, saying only that the victims were not diplomats or soldiers.

Although southern Iraq, where some 8,500 British troops are deployed, has been mostly calm since U.S. and British forces occupied Iraq more than two years ago, there has been increasing violence there in the past two months.

On Sept. 7, a roadside bomb exploded near a passing convoy of U.S. diplomatic security guards, killing four Americans.

In other developments Tuesday:

— Gunmen shot and killed two Sunni clerics in Baqouba, a town 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

— Two truck drivers delivering concrete blast walls from a factory in Iraqi Kurdistan were ambushed and killed in Baghdad. The blast walls are used throughout Baghdad to secure government buildings, hotels, embassies and other potential targets from bombers.

— Police found the body of a former judge in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Sadr City. A note left next to it said: "This is the destiny of those who support Saddam."

— A bomb planted aboard a minibus exploded in Hilla, a town 60 miles south of Baghdad. Two civilians were killed and six injured, police said.

— In Samarra, north of Baghdad, U.S. soldiers killed two insurgents who were trying to plant a roadside bomb, the military said.