Special to WorldTribune.com

BAGHDAD — Iraq has used its Air Force to launch strikes on Sunni rebels in Anbar.

Iraq has deployed the Air Force for its military campaign against Sunni fighters in Anbar.

The military said the Air Force launched air strikes that killed at least one rebel commander, Bashir Alewi Markab, aligned with Al Qaida.

“The Army Aviation, in coordination with Baghdad operations, killed [Markab] in the Garma area northeast of Fallujah,” the military said.

Officials said air strikes have killed dozens of Al Qaida fighters.

On Jan. 7, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed Askari said 25 Sunni fighters were killed in an air strike in the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi.

The military was said to have employed both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft for the campaign in Anbar.

Officials said the aircraft conducted both attack and surveillance missions, including close air support for an armored advance toward Fallujah and Ramadi.

Officials said two of the helicopters, flying at high altitude, fired rockets toward central Ramadi and destroyed a Sunni rebel convoy. Most of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi were said to be still under Al Qaida control.

  Bashir Alewi Markab, Fallujah, Iraq Air Forces strikes back against Sunni rebels, Mohammed Askari, Ramadi