BAGHDAD — The Iraq Army has launched its first operation using a
force of several battalions.
Officials said Operation Steel Curtain was testing the Iraq Army's
ability to launch battalion-size missions. They said the operation along the
border with Syria was the first time that several Iraqi battalions were
fighting
alongside U.S. forces.
Iraq has about 120 combat battalions and a total of more than 211,000
soldiers and police, Middle East Newsline reported. In Anbar, Iraq has operated nearly two divisions, with
10 infantry battalions.
"Operation Steel Curtain marks the first large-scale employment of
multiple battalion-sized units of Iraqi army forces in combined operations
with coalition forces in the last year," the U.S. military said.
The operation, which began on Nov. 4, was meant to establish a permanent
joint U.S.-Iraqi security presence along the 600-kilometer Syrian border.
Officials said
the mission was designed to block the Al Qaida ratline from Syria via the
Euphrates River
valley and through Iraq.
Officials said about 2,500 U.S. forces and 1,000 Iraqis were
participating in Operation Steel Curtain, centered around Husaybah in the
Anbar province. They said the joint force was being supported by U.S.
fighter-jets and helicopters, which has bombed at least nine suspected
insurgency strongholds.
"This is the largest concentration of Iraqi Army forces to take part in
an operation in Al Anbar this year," the military said.
The military said the Iraqi force also included platoon scouts recruited
from
the Qaim region. The scouts have been embedded in combat units and were
"helping to identify insurgent strong points and areas known to contain
these homemade bombs."
Husaybah was described as a center of Al Qaida operations in Iraq. The
military said Al Qaida
operatives have been smuggling weapons and other equipment through the city
of 30,000.
"The [Iraqi-U.S.] force is moving through the city to restore security
along the
border and destroy the Al Qaida in Iraq terrorist network operating
throughout the region," the Marine Corps said in a statement. "Husayba is
one of the main centers for transiting foreign fighters, equipment and money
into Iraq."
Officials said Operation Steel Curtain was meant to reduce the Sunni
insurgency presence in an effort to facilitate the Dec. 15 parliamentary
election. Most Sunnis, particularly those in Anbar, boycotted the Jan. 30,
2005 election for Iraq's current interim National Assembly.
The Iraqi government has also launched a campaign to press towns and
villages throughout the country to report insurgency activities. Defense
Minister Saadoun Duleimi said security operations would begin this week to
eliminate the insurgency presence in numerous towns and villages.
"This is both an announcement and a warning to all those harboring
terrorists in their houses that they must drive them out, or else we will
demolish their houses over them, their children, and the terrorists
sheltered inside," Duleimi said in a Nov. 2 briefing. "Those who do not
drive terrorists out of their houses will have the same fate of those people
you see on television every day."
