US Assault in Samarra "Barbaric": Anti-war Coalition

[sonz]

AL-DAWR, Iraq, March 17, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As the biggest ever US-Iraqi offensive in northern Iraq since the 2003 invasion entered its second day Friday, March 17, an international anti-war coalition has blasted the ongoing offensive as barbaric.

"The attack on Samarra is barbaric and reminiscent of the offensive on Fallujah in November 2004, which demolished much of the city and caused thousands of civilian deaths," said the Stop the War Coalition in a press release, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net Friday, March 17.

Launched Thursday, March 16, the offensive, the largest air assault since the US invasion of Iraq, involved 650 US troops and 800 Iraqis.

The US military said the assault -- Operation Swarmer — aimed to clear what it said "a suspected insurgent operating area" and would continue over several days.

Condemning the assault, the anti-war coalition said the US offensive "represented a continuing escalation of death and destruction inflicted by the US occupying forces".

"This latest attack can only add to the already horrific numbers of Iraqi civilians killed by the occupation forces."

Residents in Samarra said the assault reported a heavy US and Iraqi troop presence, adding large explosions could be heard in the distance.

The operation is occurring in an area known as Al-Jalam -- a 30 kilometer by 20 kilometer rural area (20 by 13 miles) -- containing scattered farm houses.

Ongoing

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade takes off during an assault operation in Samarra. (Reuters)

The US military said the ongoing offensive in northern Iraq could continue several days, Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"We're clearing every house and every hole out there," said Captain Tim Schumacher of the 29th Cavalry of the 4th Infantry about his battalion participation in the raid, according to AFP.

"We've been working on (the raid) for a month putting the plan together, there are reports of cells out there conducting attacks," said Schumacher.

Involving 50 helicopters, the assault was the biggest "air assault" since a similar airlift across Iraq, also by the 101st Airborne Division, just after the war in late April 2003, officials said.

But chief of the US Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, sought to downplay the uniqueness of the offensive.

"I wouldn't characterize this as being anything that's a big departure from normal or from the need to prosecute a target that we think was lucrative enough to commit this much force to go get," he said.

In recent months US forces have routinely used helicopters to insert troops during operations against what it said "insurgent strongholds", especially in the Euphrates River valley between Baghdad and the Syrian border.

No Contact

The US military said some 48 people were detained and six weapons caches found in the area but no "insurgents" were encountered.

"There has been no contact with the insurgents," admitted Major John Calahan of the 101st Airborne Division, a unit specialized in helicopter-borne air assaults that spearheaded the attack.

During her trip to Australia, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed the role of the Iraqi forces, which the US administration is hoping can take on more and more security responsibilities in the war-torn country.

"I would comment on the role the Iraqi security forces have played in this offensive which, it seems to me, demonstrates that Iraqi forces are indeed taking on the more of the security fight," Rice said.

US occupation forces have been launching a sweeping offensive on the predominantly Sunni areas on claims of searching for followers of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq.

Following a US offensive on the city of Al-Qaim last March, local inhabitants complained about the stench of dead bodies laid on the streets or beneath the rubble of houses as a result of the fierce US offensive.

The incessant US attacks on the city pushed hundreds of Iraqi families to flee the city to escape the ongoing US offensives.