Baghdad, Iraq – The U.S. military Tuesday launched a second major assault in less than a week on cities in western Iraq in a hunt for foreign fighters whose attacks have increased in the weeks leading up to the Oct. 15 national referendum on a new Iraqi constitution.
About 2,500 U.S. troops and hundreds of Iraqi soldiers took part in the operation, code-named River Gate, the military said.
The offensive centered on Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Barwana, Sunni cities located in the Euphrates River valley in western Anbar province.
Meanwhile, Operation Iron Fist, another assault launched four days ago in the Qaim region of Anbar province near the Iraqi-Syrian border continued, as troops searched for fighters connected to al-Qaeda in Iraq who freely roam the streets of Sadah and surrounding towns.
The U.S. military said three soldiers and a Marine died in combat actions on Monday. The three soldiers, who were assigned to a Marine combat team, were killed by an improvised explosive device, or IED, in two separate attacks in Haqlaniyah.
The Marine died from an IED in Karabilah in the operation near the Syrian border, according to the military.
The military said the operations aimed to reclaim the cities from insurgents and cut off routes used to smuggle weapons and militants to cities in other parts of Iraq.
In announcing the launch of Operation River Gate on Tuesday, the military said the goal was to deny al-Qaeda in Iraq the ability to operate in the three river cities.
Haditha, a city of 75,000, is a key crossroads for al-Qaeda in Iraq’s smuggling activities from the Syrian border, the military said. Once in Haditha, smugglers can go north to Mosul or continue to Ramadi, Fallujah and Baghdad.
Most of the residents are farmers, fishermen and former members of the Iraqi Army under the ousted government of Saddam Hussein.
Saad Mahdi Amiri, an Iraqi Army lieutenant who was among the forces engaged in the assault, said most of the neighborhoods of all three cities were under control of the joint forces by late afternoon. He said 86 suspects were detained. Two large weapons caches were discovered in Haqlaniyah.
Ibrahim Abdul Karim, 50, a teacher and resident of Haditha, said the U.S. forces broke into his house, searched all the occupants and tested their hands for explosives.
“The Marines did not give us any time to allow the women to put on the hajib (head scarf) and go out with proper clothes,” he said.
“They broke into the house like Holako,” he said, referring to a famous Mongolian barbarian who invaded the Arab homeland and burned Baghdad centuries ago.
