Operation Matador - Snaring Syria

The Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is "serious injured, possibly dead" according to Colonel Fouad Hani Hassan, commander of the fifth division of the Iraqi armed forces, cited by 'Elaph', a popular website in the Arab world.

The offensive was triggered by local tribal leaders' complaints that about 300 foreign fighters had overtaken the town and were attacking residents who didn't offer them refuge. "They said, `We are citizens of Qaim and we are now being attacked by non-Iraqi people coming from Syria. They are shelling us with mortars,'" Bruska Noori Shaways, the deputy Iraqi defense minister, said in an interview with Knight Ridder.

Photo Credits: Nando Times

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Al- Zarqawi, considered al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, is believed to have been injured in the major offensive US-led forces have been carrying out in the western Anbar province over the last few days. I agree with Captain Ed, we need to wait until definitive proof is offered before celebrating Zarqawi's demise.

Zarqawi has been reported to have been repeatedly slipping across the Syrian border, and US intelligence believes the Qaim region contains the backbone of al Qaeda's infrastructure and organizational leadership:

Military officials think that foreign fighters have been using the region as a sanctuary on their way from the porous Syrian border to cities such as Mosul, Ramadi and Baghdad, where they have carried out kidnappings, assassinations and suicide bombings aimed at destabilizing Iraq's nascent government. Some U.S. commanders believe the area contains insurgent training camps and high-ranking members of the Iraq arm of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, including its leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi. As of early today, no camps or Al Qaeda leaders had been found.

Marine Lt. Gen. James Conway reports Zarqawi has been sighted in the area but he is not the focus; "It would be a welcome event to come across him or his body... in that region... But that's not the purpose of the operation."

While the status of Zarqawi remains uncertain, it is clear al Qaeda is not popular among some of the residents of Western Iraq. A woman, who was subjected to an accidental attack by US forces, none the less begs the Marines to enter New Ubaydi. It seems al Qaeda is conducting a draft to get the men of the city to fight:

Troops also said they fired on a taxicab Tuesday morning after it failed to stop at a checkpoint. However, the occupants apparently were civilians fleeing New Ubaydi. The driver was killed and a female passenger and her child were injured. "We were just sick to death when that lady got out of the car with her baby," said a Marine, who declined to identify himself.

Marines said another passenger, who was unhurt, told them that insurgents had taken hold of the town and were threatening to kill any men who did not fight the Americans. The woman urged the Marines to reenter New Ubaydi to fight the guerrillas, the troops said.

The people of Qaim are not enamored with al Qaeda's methods as well, and this, not the sighting of Zarqawi, led to the current offensive [hat tip to Marlin]:

An Iraqi official said the offensive was triggered by local tribal leaders' complaints that about 300 foreign fighters had overtaken the town and were attacking residents who didn't offer them refuge. "They said, `We are citizens of Qaim and we are now being attacked by non-Iraqi people coming from Syria. They are shelling us with mortars,'" Bruska Noori Shaways, the deputy Iraqi defense minister, said in an interview with Knight Ridder. "Until this time, they had never asked Iraqi or American forces to help them. It's a good sign."

Al Qaeda's methods certainly aren't winning the hearts and minds of the locals, and the requests by the tribal leaders in Qaim indicate the fracturing of al Qaeda from the sympathetic Sunni population continues. Americans won't be the only ones celebrating when the area is rid of the stain of al Qaeda.

Foreign Elements

By Bill Roggio

The Marines are methodically pushing westward, conducting detailed searches in the towns along the Euphrates. The Marines are driving the insurgents and terrorists towards the blocking force of the Marines in the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment in Qaim and the platoon(s) providing over watch along the ridge overlooking Rabit. Col. Bob Chase reports the local population is proving helpful; "We are getting a lot of information from the locals in the area and a very positive reception. They are giving up locations of where these people are hiding out, and each one drives another operation."

The Washington Post details the fierce fighting in Ubaydi. Three Marines are reported to have been killed in combat and many more were wounded. The report indicates that elements from the Marine's 3rd Battalion, 2nd Regiment and the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment engaged in vicious house-to-house combat, and was surprised at the armaments and skills of the enemy. The weapons caches are reminiscent of what was found in Fallujah:

According to Hurley and others who recounted the fighting that followed, Lima Company's Marines searched each house they passed. They turned up weapons cache after weapons cache: bombs made to be dropped from airplanes, a bicycle with a seat made of explosives and an antenna for remote-control triggering, a vest rigged with explosives, a car rigged with bombs, mortar tubes, rocket launchers with new backpacks full of rockets, artillery shells. The costly equipment, as well as body armor later recovered from the bodies of dead insurgents, suggested that the fighters were foreigners, the military said. Though the level of foreigners' involvement in the insurgency has been disputed for nearly two years, Muslim men have come to Iraq from neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and from as far away as Chechnya and Indonesia to fight the United States and its allies.

Col. Stephen Davis states the bulk of the fighters captured or killed in Operation Matador are foreign, not local Iraqi inhabitants:

"I've always been skeptical of the amount of foreign fighters said to be out here…That skepticism is removed as of this operation." Davis said his assessment was based on the examination of dead insurgents as well as the interrogations of captured fighters. Some, he said, wore white clothes favored by Yemeni or Saudi men, contrasted with the colorful garb favored by local Iraqis. One dead man wore a beard trimmed in a manner common to Saudi Arabia, compared to the Saddam Hussein-style mustaches seen among Iraqis.

During interrogations, many prisoners speak with foreign accents or use foreign phrases, said an interpreter who asked not to be identified. And some prisoners "just flat out admit" that they were from other countries, Davis said, without identifying the countries.

According to the Marines, the fighters also are employing different tactics - they are better equipped and better trained than the Iraqis the Marines have fought since arriving in Anbar province in February. "We mostly deal with Iraqis," Davis said. "These are different."

Evan Kohlmann documents the influx of foreign terrorists into Iraq (he estimates about 10,000 foreign jihadis are in country), and states Iraq has become an "engine for international terrorism", much like Chechnya and Kashmir, as fighters are entering Iraq and gaining experience in jihad. Mr. Kohlmann also states the likelihood of al Qaeda winning in Iraq is low, but warns that the real danger is these fighters escaping Iraq. They should be prevented from leaving so they do not carry their skills to their home countries and continue the jihad.

The estimate of the numbers of jihadis that passed through al Qaeda's training camps in the 1990's ranges upwards to a hundred thousand fighters. While Mr. Kohlmann is correct that Iraq provides al Qaeda the opportunity to hone their skills, Iraq also provides the American military the opportunity to engage al Qaeda in close combat, something that can not be done in Kashmir or Chechnya, or in the remote areas of Southeast and Central Asia. These hard core jihadis must be arrested or killed to defeat al Qaeda, and we are seeing this occur in Operation Matador.

Operation Matador is being carried out by three companies of Marines with an attached armored company, making it an armored battalion (Chester has more on the Marine units). This battalion will be supported by Air Force, Army and Marine aviation units consisting of Cobra and Apache helicopters, C-130 Spectre gunships, fighter-bombers such as F-18s and F-16s, and a host of unmanned aerial vehicles such as the new ScanEagle man-portable drones. A Marine battalion is already positioned in Qaim (Qusaybah on the map) and a recon platoon has been deployed to Rabit to act as a blocking force for fighters that may flee to the Syrian border.

The area of operations appears to be within a narrow corridor along the banks of the Euphrates River, surrounded by desert to the north and south, and the Syrian border to the west. According to reports from the Los Angeles Times, the Marine battalion crossed the Euphrates River from the south to strike in the town of Ubaydi and are prepared to sweep west, driving the terrorists towards the Syrian border and the American blocking force positioned in al Qaim (south of the Euphrates) and Rabit (north of the Euphrates).

There may be some confusion in the reporting, however. New indicates the entire battalion has moved across the river, but the Guardian reports heavy resistance was encountered in "villages on the southern side of the Euphrates." The Marines would need to be south of the river to engage them in the towns of Karibilah, Jaramil, Khutaylah, Balujah and Ushsh, unless this "heavy resistance" is really in the form of harassing mortar, rocket and sniper fire. As these towns sit along the main road to Syria, it is likely the Marines are pressing west to drive the enemy towards Qaim. Reports indicate intelligence believed the insurgents were positioned north of the river, so elements may have moved back south across the Euphrates to engage the enemy.

According to the New York Times, the operation has been in the planning stage for some time, but the impetus for action came from local intelligence and information gleaned from the arrest of Zarqawi's lieutenants; "American officials said that the offensive had been a long time coming but that it was spurred by a fresh batch of intelligence gleaned from Iraqis who live in the area as well as interrogations of newly captured aides to Mr. Zarqawi, the most wanted terrorist in Iraq." Cascading effects from the arrests of terrorists are seen in Iraq as well.

Col. Stephen Davis states; "The insurgents we're fighting today are not the guys getting $50 to put [a roadside bomb] on the side of the road… These are the professional fighters who have come from all over the Middle East. These are people who have received training and are very well-armed." The insurgents are fighting to the death from bunkers, basements and other concealed positions that do not provide for easy escape. Similar tactics were used by dead-enders in Fallujah, and similar results – the enemy's defeat – will occur during Operation Matador, dealing yet another blow to al Qaeda's jihad in Iraq.

Story Credits: Fourth Rail and Word Unheard