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U.S. Marines said on Saturday they had launched a new counter-insurgency operation, the latest in a series of sweeps designed to root out militant bases in Iraq's Euphrates valley. Operation Scimitar involved about 500 U.S. troops and 100 Iraqis, making it about half the scale of Operation Sword and Operation Spear in the past three weeks. The military said the Marines had detained 22 suspected militants since the raid was launched in secret in the village of Zaidon 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Falluja on Thursday. Washington says the western Euphrates valley between the Syrian border and Baghdad is...

BAGHDAD, June 23 (KUNA) -- The Multi-National Forces Command declared the conclusion of Operation "Spear" on Wednesday which lasted for five days during which it was conducted in and around the area of Karabila near the Syrian borders. The Multi-National Forces Command said Thursday that the Iraqi security forces and US marines uprooted "terrorist" hideouts, killed 47 insurgents and arrested a "terrorist." It added that during patrols in a village near the Syrian border, the joint forces discovered a house in which four tied hostages were found and saying the house was used by insurgents for torture. The statement quoted...

6/20/2005 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- An MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle destroyed an anti-Iraqi forces mortar launch site near Al Qaim on June 18 while assisting Marines under enemy fire. The air strike occurred during Operation Spear in which U.S. and Iraqi security forces in Iraq’s Anbar province called in air strikes on terrorist strong holds. An Air Force joint terminal attack controller, whose unit on the ground was under mortar attack, saw imagery from a nearby Predator assigned to another mission and requested control of the unmanned aerial vehicle. After positive identification of the launch site, the Predator...

United States and Iraqi troops, backed by US and British aircraft, have hunted and killed foreign fighters in the town of Karabila near the Syrian border. They prowled house to house yesterday in search of guerrilla bases. In Baghdad, a suicide bombing claimed by Jordanian al- Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group killed at least 23 people, many of them police and security guards eating lunch at a restaurant outside the Green Zone government compound. It was the bloodiest attack in the capital since a major crackdown on insurgent activity began in Baghdad a month ago. Zarqawi and Sunni Arab...

Iraqi army hostage survives 22 days of torture by rebels By Oliver Poole in Baghdad (Filed: 20/06/2005) A hostage who was found shackled in a torture room in Iraq by American soldiers has described how he was tormented for 22 days with electric shocks and daily beatings for no obvious reason. Ahmed Isa Fathil, 19, who had served briefly with the Iraqi army, is one of the few to have survived abduction by insurgents. Ahmed Isa Fathil did not know why he was kidnapped He recounted how he was kidnapped while eating lunch with his mother, bundled into the boot...

LONDON, JUNE 19 (KUNA) -- British Royal Air Force warplanes have been called into action in Iraq alongside American forces fighting close to the Syrian border, the BBC reported Sunday. The British GR4 Tornadoes were supporting a US operation against insurgents, the American military said. They used laser-guided bombs and missiles to support an attack on a building in Karabila, the BBC said. Around 1,000 US troops are targeting insurgent hide-outs in the offensive, known as Operation "Spear". The operation has seen heavy fighting in Karabila and other areas around the city of Qaim, in north-western Iraq's Anbar province, correspondents...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A suicide bombing ripped through a popular Baghdad kebab restaurant at lunchtime, killing at least 16 people and wounding 25 Sunday as insurgents stepped up attacks nationwide, defying two major U.S.-led offensives aimed at routing foreign fighters. The bomber detonated a vest laden with explosives at about 2:45 p.m. in the Ibn Zanbour restaurant, which is just 400 yards from the main gate of the heavily fortified Green Zone and is especially popular with Iraqi police and soldiers. Six police officers were among those killed, while the injured included 12 police officers, Iraqi army Maj. Falah...

KARABILA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops, backed by Iraqi forces and U.S. and British aircraft, pushed on Sunday into the northern section of a town near the Syrian border which they say has become a stronghold for foreign fighters. In Baghdad, a suicide bomber eluded a month-long crackdown and killed at least 16 people and wounded 29, many of them police and security guards eating lunch, when he walked into a busy restaurant close to the Green Zone government compound. Karabila, now nearly deserted but once home to 60,000 people, and other areas around the city of Qaim, are the...

On Saturday, troops searching the town found four Iraqi hostages beaten, handcuffed and chained to a wall in a torture center, the military said. Some of the men were believed to be Iraqi border guards who had been held for three weeks. Troops searching the bunker found nooses, electrical wire and a bathtub filled with water for electric shocks and mock drownings. In the basement, troops found automatic rifles, ammunition, terrorist training manuals and DVDs showing insurgents beheading captives, Pool said.

U.S. Marines with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, patrol through the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, June 14, 2005. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Robert R. Attebury

KARABILA, Iraq (CNN) -- The joint U.S.-Iraqi Operation Spear continued Saturday as Marines, sailors and Iraqi security forces fought insurgents in Karabila, near the Syrian border. The most intense fighting was concentrated in the center of town, where enemy fighters were holed up in a bunker complex. Marines also found four people who appeared to have been taken captive and beaten. Jane Arraf, CNN's senior Baghdad correspondent, is embedded with U.S. troops taking part in the mission. She spoke with CNN anchor Betty Nguyen by phone during the pitched battle. ARRAF: What I see in front of me is absolutely...

US claims success in Iraq raids About 2,000 US and Iraqi troops are taking part in the two operations Some 50 rebels have been killed and another 100 captured since the start of a joint US-Iraqi offensive in western Iraq, the US military says. It reported no military or civilian losses since Operation Spear began on Friday, but Iraqi doctors spoke of at least 10 civilian deaths. The operation - involving some 1,000 troops - aims to root out rebels and foreign fighters on the Syrian border. A second major operation in the area began on Saturday to find...

Arkansas student held on terrorism charge FAYETTEVILLE - A graduate student at the University of Arkansas has been arrested on charges that he was planning to join a terrorist organization and launch attacks on Israel. Federal agents arrested Arwah J. Jaber on a criminal complaint accusing him of knowingly attempting to provide support to a foreign terrorist organization. According to an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court in Fort Smith, an anonymous tipster from Fayetteville placed a call earlier this month to the Department of Homeland Security to inform them that Arwah Jaber, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry at...

US Marines and accompanying Iraqi troops return to the Qusaybah/Qaim region on the Syrian border, and launch Operation Spear in the city of Karabilah. This region is the main hub of the southern ratline from Syria, which has been inaccurately compared to the Ho Chi Minh Trail of the Vietnam War. Spear explains the reports of US troops massing on the Syrian border. Via CENTCOM: Approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors from Regimental Combat Team-2, 2nd Marine Division and Iraqi Security Force soldiers are conducting combat operations in northwestern Al Anbar Province. Operation Spear (Romhe) began in the early morning hours...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - American troops bombarded a dusty border town with airstrikes and tank fire Friday, capturing 100 militants in the third major recent attempt to uproot tenacious insurgents who are believed to use the region to sneak foreign suicide bombers in from Syria. Four suicide attacks around Iraq, including one in the capital, killed 11 people as rebels seeking to lead Iraq into a civil war intensified the pace and scope of attacks against Iraq's still-weak security forces. More than 60 people have died in suicide attacks over the past two days. In a campaign codenamed Romhe, Arabic for...

U.S. Launches Major Operation in West Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military launched a major combat operation Friday, sending 1,000 Marines and Iraqi soldiers to hunt for insurgents and foreign fighters in a volatile western province straddling Syria. Operation Spear started in the pre-dawn hours in Anbar province to hunt for insurgents and foreign fighters, the military said. The area, which straddles the Syrian border, is where U.S. forces said it killed about 40 militants in airstrikes in Karabilah on June 11. The operation came one day after Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Alston called the Syrian border the...

Operation Spear Begins; Iraqi Farmer Turns In Weapons Cache American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, June 17, 2005 – U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces today began Operation Spear, aimed at rooting out terrorists and foreign fighters and disrupting terror support systems in and around Karabilah, Iraq. About 1,000 Marines and sailors from Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, and Iraqi security forces began the operation early this morning in northwestern Anbar province. Elements from 1st Tank Battalion and 2nd and 4th Assault Amphibian Battalions are participating in the operation, along with coalition aircraft. In other Iraq news, a local farmer...

U.S. F-16 fighter planes dropped a series of 500 lb (220 kg) bombs on insurgent targets in western Iraq overnight as the U.S. military launched a heavy offensive against rebels near the Syrian border. Nine of the powerful bombs were dropped, the U.S. military said, two of them targeting suspected rebel safe houses near the town of Qaim, an insurgent stronghold on the Euphrates river about 20 km (12 miles) east of Iraq's border with Syria. Four more were aimed at rebels as they fired mortars and assault rifles at U.S. ground forces near Qaim, and a further three were...

1,000 US troops carrying out combat operations in Al-Anbar, Iraqi police arrest 25 in overnight sweep in Kut. BAGHDAD - US forces have launched an operation in Iraq's northwestern Al-Anbar province, a stronghold of insurgents, the military said in a statement on Friday. Approximately 1,000 troops are carrying out combat operations there as part of Operation Spear which the US said is aimed at "rooting out insurgents and foreign fighters and disrupting insurgent support systems in and around Karabilah." On June 11, US air strikes against a concentration of insurgents in the town killed around 40. Meanwhile, twenty-five suspects were...

The US military has launched a major offensive involving some 1,000 troops to root out insurgents and foreign fighters in western Iraq. Heavy gun battles could be heard as Operation Spear got under way in the early hours in the restive province of Anbar on the border with Syria