U.S.-Led Forces Launch New Offensive In Iraq

06/28/2005

By JACOB SILBERBERG

HIT, Iraq (AP) - More than 1,000 U.S. troops and Iraqi forces launched Operation Sword on Tuesday in a bid to crush insurgents and foreign fighters in western Iraq, the third major offensive in the area in recent weeks.

The new campaign is focusing on communities along the Euphrates River between the towns of Hit and Haditha in the volatile Anbar province, said Marine Capt. Jeffrey Pool, a spokesman.

The region, about 125 miles northwest of Baghdad, is a hotbed of insurgent activity. The Marines, though, received a friendlier-than-expected welcome from Hit’s residents in the early going.

A group of troops, operating in sweltering temperatures, stopped at one home to take advantage of the air conditioning. The hosts even changed the channel on the satellite TV to an English-language talk show about the Middle East.

The U.S. troops conducting Operation Sword include Marines, soldiers and sailors from Regimental Combat Team 2, comprised of the 2nd Marine Regiment and 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Marine Division, Pool said.

Operation Sword, or Saif in Arabic, comes on the heels of two other offensives - dubbed Operations Spear and Dagger.

Operation Spear was aimed at stemming the flow of foreign fighters over the porous Syrian border in Karabilah, which is near the Iraqi frontier town of Qaim. The U.S. military said nearly 50 insurgents were killed during the five-day operation.

A senior al-Qaida leader who was wanted in Saudi Arabia was killed during the offensive, said al-Qaida in Iraq’s leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in an Internet posting.

Operation Dagger took place north of Baghdad. It was aimed at uprooting foreign-fighter networks.