The Long War Journal: The Battle for the Border IV



Written by Bill Roggio on September 8, 2005 5:12 PM to The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2005/09/the_battle_for.php

iraq_matador_and_mosul.gifThe 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.