Perhaps the action is a reaction spurred by the recent rash of bombings. Perhaps it is a movement of opportunity based on only-recently acquired data. Probably it’s both — some new information that allowed a movement against a porous border region at a time when the insurgents are greatly in need of another beating. Either way, the coalition forces are back on the offensive, this time pressing the issue and bloodying the enemy near the Syrian border.
American forces have killed at least 100 insurgents and foreign fighters in an offensive near Iraq’s border with Syria, U.S. military officials said Monday.
The offensive, which began Saturday, involves more than 1,000 U.S. troops in an attempt to crack down on the network headed by terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the military said.
Three Marines from the 2nd Marine Division have died in the fighting, two on Sunday and one Monday, the military said.
Officials said much of the fighting has been in the Al Jazirah Desert north of Qaim, a city along the Euphrates River in Anbar province on the Syrian border.
The area has “basically [been] a sanctuary” for insurgents, said Col. Bob Chase, a Marine operations officer based at Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi.
A military press release said the region was known as a smuggling route. Insurgents have been using “known points of entry and ‘rat lines,’ as we call them, to bring in weapons illegally,” Chase said.
Based on their “equipment and dress,” Chase said most of the insurgents are believed to be foreign fighters, not Iraqis.
The offensive involves forces from the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines, the military said. Aircraft include Marine Corps jets, Chase said.
Casualties have been “extremely light on the coalition side,” Chase said, “and conversely there have been a lot of enemy casualties.”
Many of the fighters “are starting to flee, and we are continuing to press the attack.”
Chase said the operation began after Iraqis provided information on the whereabouts of the insurgents.
“The people are starting to be frustrated with these insurgents and with these foreign fighters,” he told CNN.
“The offensive started based on some significant intelligence received from some very brave folks who live in that part of the country.”
Meanwhile, Zarqawi’s group calls the report of devastating casualties lies.
The Al-Qaeda group of Iraq’s most-wanted militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi denied a US report on Monday that 75 insurgents had been killed in a sweep near the Syrian border.
‘The adorers of the cross claim to have killed 75 Muslims at Al-Qaim. Once more, they are lying, because lying is their religion,’ said the statement on an Islamist website, the authenticity of which could not be verified.
Of course they’re lies, Mr. Terrorist. Oh, and by the way, how’s that inpenetrable defense of Fallujah treating y’all these days?