Falluja operation underway

[The Emperor Fabulous]

CNN is reporting that the military has begun its operations to take back the city of Falluja from insurgents.

Yesterday, Iraqi commandos seized a hospital in the city after three days of heavy bombing from American planes.

Good luck to the soldiers.

[Arrian]

Yes, and good luck to the civilians who couldn't/didn't make it out in time (though it appears they were given several days to bug out).

-Arrian

[alva]

...

[Gangerolf]

Here's hoping they nail that Zarqawi fellow too.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - Thousands of U.S. Marines and Army troops punched their way on Monday into two Fallujah neighborhoods where insurgents are considered the strongest, kicking off a massive assault that seeks to put an end to half a year of insurgent control of the Sunni Muslim city.

The troops, backed by the 1st Cavalry Division's tanks and armor, swarmed into the city's northwestern Jolan district, the warren-like historic heart of Fallujah.

At the same time, some 4,000 troops went into the northeastern Askari district.

[Arrian]

It will be interesting to see if any of the important insurgent/foreign fighters stuck around. The analysis I heard (NPR) suggested they would probably bail and just leave expendable grunts to get slaughtered.

-Arrian

[The Emperor Fabulous]

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - Thousands of U.S. Marines and Army troops punched their way on Monday into two Fallujah neighborhoods where insurgents are considered the strongest, kicking off a massive assault that seeks to put an end to half a year of insurgent control of the Sunni Muslim city.

The troops, backed by the 1st Cavalry Division's tanks and armor, swarmed into the city's northwestern Jolan district, the warren-like historic heart of Fallujah.

At the same time, some 4,000 troops, backed by the 1st Cavalry Division's tanks and armor, went into the northeastern Askari district.

The prelude to the assault was a crushing air and artillery bombardment of the city that rose to a crescendo by Monday evening, with U.S. jets dropping bombs around the clock and big guns pounding the city every few minutes with high-explosive shells.


(AP) U.S. Army doctors try to stabilize a four-year-old child with schrapnel wounds to the head who was...
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The first punch came from just north of the city, where Marine Regimental Combat Team 1 - more than 4,000 Marines and Army troops, along with Iraqi allies - had been massed Sunday night.

Earlier Monday, American troops fought their way into the western outskirts of the city, seizing a hospital and two bridges over the Euphrates River in the first stage of a major assault on the insurgent stronghold.

The U.S. military reported its first casualties of the offensive - two Marines killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates. A military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed across Fallujah in the opening round of attacks.

Separately, militants attacked a Catholic church in southern Baghdad, setting it ablaze, according to police and eyewitnesses.

A huge explosion at the church in the southern Doura neighborhood left about 20 people injured, said a policeman who declined to give his name.


(AP) U.S. Army Ssg. Samuel Viera cleans blood from the breast plate of a flack jacket after a U.S....
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Eyewitness Mohammed Aziz said that strong explosions rocked the area.

"Half an hour ago, I felt my house shaking three times and then saw the fire set in the church," he said.

Police sealed off the area and fired bullets in the air to disperse the crowd, said another witness, Lyon Emad Elias, whose home faces the church.

Back in Fallujah, four foreigners, including two Moroccans and two unidentified people, were captured when U.S. and Iraqi forces swept into the first objective: the city's main hospital, which the military and Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said was under insurgent control.

Iraqi soldiers stormed through the facility, blasting open doors and pulling handcuffed patients into the halls in search of gunmen.


(AP) Insurgents load weapons during an attack on U.S. forces in Fallujah, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 8, 2004....
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Allawi said he had given the green light for international and Iraqi forces to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, considered the strongest bastion of Iraq's Sunni insurgents. "We are determined to clean Fallujah of terrorists," he said.

Allawi initially said 38 people were killed in the hospital seizure, but the U.S. military said no one was killed in the hospital operation. A military spokesman later gave a figure of 42 dead across the city since the Fallujah assault began. The spokesman, 1st. Sgt. Steven Valley, said the situation was "fluid" and information on casualties was difficult to pin down.

Doctors in Fallujah reported 10 people killed and 11 wounded during the bombardment overnight.

Throughout the morning, artillery and mortars pounded targets in Fallujah and on its outskirts, and a U.S. jet swooped low to fire rockets at insurgent positions. An AC-130 gunship raked the city all night long with cannon fire, and and before dawn, four 500-pound bombs were dropped, raising orange fireballs over the city's rooftops.

Outside the city. U.S. troops set up mortar positions and filled sandbags in preparation for an anticipated assault. U.S. troops clashed with insurgents in several locations along the outskirts of the city, firing rifle shots as they took cover around corners and behind the doors of their Humvees.


(AP) Insurgents fire mortar rounds toward U.S. forces in Fallujah, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 8, 2004. American...
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U.S. commanders have avoided any public estimate on how long it may take to capture Fallujah, where insurgents fought the Marines to a standstill last April in a three-week siege.

Marine commanders have warned the new offensive could bring the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam war. Some 10,000 U.S. Marines, Army soldiers and Iraqi forces are around Fallujah, where commanders estimate around 3,000 insurgents are dug in. More than half the civilian population of some 300,000 people is believed to have fled already.

Much depends on whether the bulk of the defenders, believed to be Iraqis from the Fallujah area, decide to risk the destruction of the city or try to slip away in the face of overwhelming force. Foreign jihadis may choose to fight to the end, but it's clear how many of them are still in the city.

Another issue is the role of Iraqi forces fighting alongside the Americans. A National Public Radio correspondent embedded with the Marines outside Fallujah reported desertions among the Iraqis. One Iraqi battalion shrunk from over 500 men down to 170 over the past two week - with 255 members quitting over the weekend, the correspondent said.

Clerics in Fallujah denounced Iraqi troops participating in the assault, calling them the "occupiers' lash on their fellow countrymen."

"We swear by God that we will stand against you in the streets, we will enter your houses and we will slaughter you just like sheep," the clerics said in a statement.

A senior aide to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqi forces not to fight alongside U.S. troops.

"We appeal to the Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi police not to help the occupation troops as they want to target the Iraqi people in Fallujah," said Sheikh Abdul-Hadi al-Daraji. The Iraqi troops should not be a tool in the hands of the occupation troops."

In the first foray across the river into Fallujah proper, Marines on Monday morning secured an apartment building in the city's northwest corner, said Capt. Brian Heatherman, of the 3rd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment.

"The Marines have now gained a foothold in the city," said Heatherman, 32.

He said there were some Iraqi casualties as the troops seized the building, where Marines found an improvised bomb hanging above a doorway - one of the many variety of booby traps they expect to come across in the urban battle.

U.S. and Iraqi commanders have vowed to stamp out Sunni Muslim guerrillas controlling Fallujah and other cities north and west of Baghdad ahead of vital January elections.

Allawi said emergency measures would be imposed on Fallujah and Ramadi, another insurgent stronghold nearby, beginning at 6 p.m. Roads and government facilities in the two cities will be closed, all weapons will be banned, Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan will be closed and Baghdad's international airport will be shut down for 48 hours.

Allawi's government announced Sunday that it was imposing a 60-day state of emergency across Iraq - except for the Kurdish-run north.

One key reason to take Fallujah hospital early was likely to control information: The facility was the main source of Iraqi death tolls during the first U.S. siege of Fallujah in April, and U.S. commanders accused doctors there of exaggerating numbers.

The U.S military said Monday that insurgents had been in control of Fallujah General Hospital - located on the west bank of the Euphrates - and were "forcing the doctors there to release propaganda and false information."

The reports of hundreds of civilians killed in the April siege - and scenes of soccer fields turned into mass graves for the dead - generated strong public outrage in Iraq and elsewhere in the Arab world, prompting the Bush administration to call off the offensive. U.S. officials insisted the numbers were overblown.

The new offensive, launched after sundown Sunday, came after government negotiators reported the failure of last-minute peace talks. "We have no other option but to take the necessary measures to protect Iraqi people from these killers and liberate Fallujah," Allawi said.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group that has threatened to boycott elections, condemned the assault on Fallujah, calling it "an illegal and illegitimate action against civilian and innocent people."

Over the weekend, insurgents launched a wave of attacks in central Iraq in an apparent attempt to divert attention away from Fallujah. About 60 people were killed - including two Americans soldiers - and 75 injured.

[Pax]

Where did the Iraqi "commando's" come from?

[germanos]

Let's hope that in a few days the question won't be "where did the Iraqi commando's go to?"

[Last Conformist]

The timing rather stinks, doesn't it?

Well, better get it over with now than wait even longer.

[Donegeal]

Originally posted by Arrian
It will be interesting to see if any of the important insurgent/foreign fighters stuck around. The analysis I heard (NPR) suggested they would probably bail and just leave expendable grunts to get slaughtered.

-Arrian

That's fine. Less to get later...

[DanS]

Hopefully, our boys can get Fallujah cleaned really quick with few civilian casualties. Shoot straight, guys.

[GePap]

If the City goes quickly and without much trouble, that will only mean th insurgents scaterred and got out of dodge to fight another day in toher places.

Obviously the US will win this battle- the problem is, I seriously doubt this will be a knockout punch at all.

[Ramo]

And this could easily backfire horribly. If this gets bloody, the Sunnis could boycott the election.

[GePap]

The Sunni have every reason to boycott the election right now, without Fallujah.