The Coalition continues to maintain the tempo of combat operations in Western Anbar and Tal Afar.
Qaim
In the region of Qaim, the U.S. focuses on local intelligence and airpower to target al Qaeda leaders and fighters, and disrupt their operations. Within the last twenty four hours, two more air strikes are conducted in the region, and two leaders of al Qaeda are killed.
Abu Mohammad, the leader of a bomb making cell, has been killed during an air strike on a terrorist safe house in Husaybah. According to CENTCOM, Mohammad was well connected in the region, and reported directly to Abu Islam, al Qaeda’s former “Emir of Husaybah” . Abu Islam was killed in an air strike last week in Qaim, along with forty-seven other terrorists.
Abu Ali, “a senior al Qaeda agent in charge of helping foreign fighters enter the country from Syria” was also killed near Husaybah during an air strike. Ali was an import leader of al Qaeda. His reach extended outside of Iraq to Saudi Arabia and Syria, and he was responsible for helping foreign terrorists get established in the cities and towns along the western branch of the Euphrates River. Ali also was an associate of Abu Talha, the former leader of al Qaeda in Mosul, who was arrested in June.
Tal Afar
In Tal Afar, two hundred terrorists are bagged while attempting to escape the cordon placed around the city. One hundred and fifty of them are foreigners from Syria, Sudan, Yemen and Jordan. U.S. and Iraqi forces are engaged in combat at the city outskirts.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed four terrorists who they observed with weapons on a building preparing an ambush in Tal Afar Wednesday. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR killed three more terrorists after receiving small arms fire in Tal Afar today.
According to Major General Rick Lynch, the battle for Tal Afar will be lengthy and conducted on the Coalition’s timeline; “over the next several weeks — we’re not specifying any time — specific military operations to target the insurgency in Tal Afar.” The evacuation of the civilian population is a likely the reason for delaying the offensive. Gathering intelligence from those who do not wish to see their homes destroyed or their neighbors who chose to stay behind killed is another reason for the delay. As we are seeing in the Qaim region, actionable intelligence is quite valuable.
MG Lynch also confirms that Tal Afar is not part of a search and destroy operation, but is indeed a clear and hold operation. “We have now sufficient assets available between the coalition forces and Iraqi Security Forces … to leave behind a robust security presence so the insurgents cannot return.”
The speculation is now over. The Coalition has officially entered Phase II of the Anbar Campaign, where U.S. forces, with Iraqi Army assistance, provide the push to eject the insurgents from the cities in Western Iraq.
Once the insurgents lose Tal Afar, their vital northern hub along the ratline from Syria will be seriously disrupted. This makes the need to maintain a presence in Qaim all the more important, and the fighting there all the more intense.
11 Comments
Bill, thanks for the fantastic analysis of defining issues which the MSM simply wishes to avoid.
The UPI report by Pam Hess is very revealing. It puts the myth that US is callously attacking civilians in war zones completely to rest.
Hess has shown that the “insurgent” neighborhood of Saray has been surrounded by US forces and residents have been instructed to clear the area through checkpoints to the south.
1,000 residents decided to escape through the north cordon and avoid being identified. They were stopped and were told to submit to the checkpoint search, which they refused.
But why would they refuse that? It is obvious that there were numerous terrorists and wanted criminals among the crowd. So the crowd decides to return to the city to face and attack the cordon and search forces, instead of flee for safety.
This is conclusive evidence that such so-called civilians who refuse to abandon their fortifications, are in cahoots with the terrorists and wish to provide material support to the terrorists in their attempt to grab power and rule over the region.
This clearly makes these civilians enemy combatants. If they are hurt, it is because they are actively supporting the enemy, and because they have chosen to remain in the war zone and materially assist the terrorists. Many of these civilians are women. Is there any surprise that women get killed in places like Fallujah?
The tragedy is the children who are controlled by these terrorists and their helpers. They use these children against their will, expose them to huge risks of death, injury, and maiming, and exploit them as human shields. This is the moral depth that these Islamists and so-called insurgents have sunk below.
It is fair to say that whoever remains in a contested area, despite weeks of repeated plea to abandon that area, are enemy combatants and not civilians, no matter their gender or age. And the children are the hostages to these terrorist forces.
Excellent analysis Mr. Roggio, nothing more to add.
Bill,
Your wrapups are priceless. I check your site as well as WashingtonPost, Times, AP, CentCom, MNF-Iraq, and DOD for Iraq news and you somehow manage to grab all the stories, tie them together and put them into context and you have been doing so for a long time. Thank you.
Mark
Gen Lynch today announced that MNF-Iraq had “received” the extra troops it had requested for election security.
“The speculation is now over. The Coalition has officially entered Phase II of the Anbar Campaign”
WELL, POP!!!
Tal Afar will be clear and in the hands of the Iraqi army with little or no US presence by the end of September. Mark my words.
Excellant as always! I have a request however.
I have lost track of the existing clear and hold
operations down the river toward Baghdad.
Do you have a current list of cities that have been cleared of fascists and are now under Iragi government and coalition control?
We were at the Haditha Dam earlier and are now upsteam, but what is controlled by the government? It is expanding rapidly, I know, but where?
Another must read from Pamela Hess. Who is she? – she is so good. Michael Yon has competition!
The Americans called a meeting at the FOB near Mosul – and 200 Sunni Arab sheiks showed up. The Sunnis want the Americans to stay!
400 terorists have been caught and only 3 left on the list.
http://www.wpherald.com/print.php?StoryID=20050907-042311-1910r
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Great News !
Thanks for the Excellent information. Its good news that we cannot set from the big news guys, CBS , NBC , CNN , and even the best of the bunch, Fox.
Bill,
I missed this from yesterdays press briefing
“In further signs of the growing capability of the Iraqi security forces, on Saturday the 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, VII Iraqi Army Division came under the tactical control of Multinational Corps Iraq. The unit moved from Fallujah to Ramadi and will soon begin conducting
counterinsurgency operations in conjunction with coalition forces.”
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/Transcripts/050908a.htm
Leaddog, is should shed some light on coming events in Western Iraq..IMHO Clear and Holds are only being done when there are enough Iraqi troops to do most of the “holding”.