November 6, 2005
US launches savage bombing Saturday afternoon, striking city water
supply, electricity grid and communication networks. Heavy use of
anti-personnel cluster bombs reported.
In a bulletin posted at 2:05pm Mecca time Saturday afternoon, the
Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent in the heart of al-Qa’im, near the
border with Syria, reported that fierce fighting had begun a short
while earlier between the Iraqi Resistance and US occupation troops as
mosques chanted "God is greatest!" to boost the morale of the
Resistance fighters.
The correspondent reported that at the time of writing, the battle
was concentrated in the western side of the city near the Syrian
border. US forces had bombed the electric power transmission towers and
the water storage and communications centers and the whole area where
the Resistance forces were concentrated was under intensive
anti-personnel cluster bombing by US aircraft.
Mafkarat al-Islam noted that it has two correspondents in al-Qa’im
to cover the fighting. The US bombings followed an American
announcement of a new offensive in al-Anbar Province dubbed "Steel
Curtain."
Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported that US forces and their Iraqi
puppet army allies had also closed all roads leading to the nearby town
of Hasibah.
Families flee to Hospital seeking shelter from ferocious, indiscriminate US bombing of al-Qa’im
In a dispatch posted at 3:10pm Mecca time Saturday afternoon,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported from al-Qa’im that a short while earlier,
local residents had begun to flee their homes and head for al-Qa’im
General Hospital hoping that there they would be safe from the
ferocious and indiscriminate US bombing of their city in which the
Americans are making heavy use of anti-personnel cluster bombs.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent in the city reported a
physician in al-Qa’im General Hospital as saying that dozens of
families are now camping out in the corridors and hallways and in the
courtyard of the hospital. He said that all of them have fled their
homes in fear of the American air bombardment and hope that the
hospital will be safer for them than their homes.
People of al-Qa’im issue appeal to the Arab, Islamic countries
and the world for urgent intervention to save them from the savage
American bombing
In a dispatch posted at 3:30pm Mecca time Saturday afternoon,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the people of al-Qa’im, many of whom
have now taken refuge from the on-going ferocious bombing of their city
in al-Qa’im General Hospital and in vacant school buildings outside the
city, had issued an appeal for help addressed to Arab and Islamic
states and to the world as a whole. The call from the people of
al-Qa’im asks for intervention to save them from what they cal the
Crusader offensive on the Muslims of al-Qa’im.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent in al-Qa’im provided the text of the appeal, which reads as follows:
"In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Mercy-giving. 'Oh Lord,
adversity has come to afflict me but You are the most Merciful of those
who show mercy.’ Qur’an, 21:83
"To the children of the Community of Muhammad, may God’s peace and
blessings be upon him, to all the Muslims, to those whom God has called
'one body,’ today as we celebrate the blessed 'Eid al-Fitr we are under
an infidel Crusader attack that is wiping out farm fields and people,
killing children as well as children. Today, oh Community of Muhammad,
the Crusaders have attacked us from everywhere. Under their claims of
"fighting terror," they have attacked the defiant city of al-Qa’im,
killing, destroying, and terrorizing, glorying in their tyranny and
power over us powerless people. By God, there are no terrorists in this
city other than they. We of that unfortunate city appeal to you in the
name of Islamic brotherhood and Arab kinship to intervene to halt the
shedding of our blood, which has been going on continually since dawn
today.
"We ask the rulers of the Arab and Islamic countries urgently to
intervene to save us. We demand that the peoples of the Islamic world
community put pressure on their leaders to intervene to save us. For by
God if the sun sets today and we are still under this bombing, none of
us will awaken tomorrow – neither women nor children.
"Remember that tomorrow you will stand before God the Almighty who
takes vengeance for wrongs. If we have been killed, we shall raise our
complaint to Him – and He knows best who are the guilty – about the
wrong done by the people and rulers on earth.
"God is greatest! God is greatest! God is greatest! How sweet is Paradise which comes to embrace us!"
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent reported that he received the
appeal in hand-written form and typed it up before it had been
officially typed for printing and distribution to the news media. In
any case, the correspondent noted, there are so far no reporters or
journalists in al-Qa’im other than the correspondents for Mafkarat
al-Islam.
Mafkarat al-Islam requested all news agencies and broadcasting
stations not to allow a repeat of what took place in Tall 'Afar in
which Mafkarat al-Islam news reports were taken without credit for them
being given.
US-installed "Iraqi Defense Minister" threatens to kill women
and children if their houses harbor or aid Resistance fighters. Women
and children in homes where Resistance fighters receive medical help or
protection "will not be considered civilians."
In a dispatch posted at 4:48pm Mecca time Saturday afternoon,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier the US-installed
"Iraqi Defense Minister, Sa'dun ad-Dulaymi, had issued new threats to
the people of Iraq and in particular the inhabitants of al-Qa’im,
currently the target of a savage American offensive. Ad-Dulaymi
threatened anyone who helps or harbors Iraqi Resistance fighters as
they battle the American assault on the city.
The American-installed "Defense Minister" asserted that America’s
latest so-called "Operation Steel Curtain" is aimed at what he called
"terrorists" (meaning Iraqi Resistance fighters). Ad-Dulaymi said
however that any house or any family that provides refuge or cover for
any of the Resistance fighters will only be dealt with by American
warplanes, as they will be regarded as "links in the chain of terror"
in the American-occupied country.
Ad-Dulaymi said that any family in al-Qa’im or any neighboring city
who gives help or aid or treats the wounds of wounded Resistance
fighters – whether Iraqi or from other Arab countries, whether in
az-Zarqawi’s al-Qa'idah group or any other – will be treated as
supporters of "terror." The American installed "Minister" added that
any women or children who might be killed in houses harboring what he
called "terrorists" would not be considered civilians.
Ad-Dulaymi delivered his threats before an audience of journalists.
He added that, "as we said before, the houses in al-Qa’im will be
demolished over the heads of women and children if it is apparent that
they are helping the terrorists, or giving them medical aid after we
have established our control over the hospitals of the city and the
hospitals of neighboring towns."
US forces reported to be three times larger than officially
announced. Iraqi Resistance in al-Qa’im unites under single command in
preparation for long, hard battle
In a dispatch posted at 7:20pm Mecca time Saturday evening, the
correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam in al-Qa’im reported that the
number of US occupation troops and Iraqi puppet soldiers massed on all
four sides of the besieged city is much greater than figure officially
announced by the American occupation authorities and the US-installed
puppet regime.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondents to the east and north of
al-Qa’im and the another towards the western side of the city reported
that according to Iraqi Resistance observers and intelligence
operatives the true number of attacking troops is three times the
officially announced figure.
Three formations have been observed massed around the city, the
sources said. These aer the 72nd Marines, a commando force and the
American stormtroop division in their well-known uniforms. There are
also three units of the Iraqi puppet army outside the city. A force of
this nature and dimension has given the people of al-Qa’im and the
Iraqi Resistance the impression that the battle is to be a long and
hard one.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent in the city reported that all
the Resistance groups gathered now in the city have united under a
single command for the duration of the battle.
The correspondent reported that a number of Resistance field
commanders in al-Qa’im said that the unification of their forces was a
practical measure for the purpose of repulsing the American offensive.
The commanders said that as is known responsibility for Resistance
activity in different cities of Iraq is shared out among different
Resistance groups during normal military operations, but these forces
unite under a single command for major battles. Thus it is normal for
the different Resistance forces to united under the command of the
biggest and most active Resistance group in a given city in major
engagements. This is what took place in al-Fallujah, in Jurf as-Sakhr,
and in Tall 'Afar.
Accordingly, Resistance command is now accordingly united under
the biggest and most active resistance group in the city of al-Qa’im,
reportedly the al-Qa'idah organization
In a dispatch posted at 7:40pm Mecca time Saturday evening,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported from al-Qa’im that the American attackers
had begun a violent rocket bombardment of the western and northern
parts of the city a short while before. US F-16 and F-18 warplanes were
indiscriminately pounding the city with cluster bombs and guided
missiles.
Following heavy air strikes, US forces storm into three
neighborhoods of al-Qa’im Saturday night. Resistance fortifies itself
in eastern parts of the city
In a dispatch posted at 8:20pm Mecca time Saturday night, Mafkarat
al-Islam reported from al-Qa’im that US forces with Iraqi puppet army
units in tow had stormed into and seized complete control of three
neighborhoods of al-Qa’im following intensive aerial bombardment.
The al-Qa’im correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that more
than 11 US military vehicles had been set on fire or disabled as the
Resistance stood up to the oncoming Americans. At least 20 US troops
were killed or wounded in the 7 April neighborhood of the city alone.
Nevertheless, the Resistance withdrew to the east and was
concentrating its forces there at the time of writing. Residents of the
city believe that the Resistance had the intention of withdrawing in
order to try to draw American troops into parts of the town where the
streets are narrow and where urban guerrilla tactics and close-quarter
fighting could be employed with high effectiveness against the US
attackers, while minimizing he Americans’ ability to mount air strikes
on the Resistance defenders.
Savage American air strikes on the city of al-Qa’im have not
stopped since they began hours earlier on Saturday, the correspondent
noted.
In a dispatch posted at 8:50pm Mecca time Saturday evening,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported from al-Qa’im that preliminary reports that
the correspondents in that city had been able to compile a short while
earlier reveal that 31 local civilians had been killed and 44 wounded
in the American assault on the city. Women, children, and elderly men
are among the dead, according to a Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent who
reported from the City Hospital and from the Field Hospital in the
besieged city.
According to those preliminary statistics prepared by Mafkarat
al-Islam correspondents, 22 houses have been destroyed by the American
attacks in various parts of the city. One mosque in the west of the
city has been razed to the ground. Two schools, one water pumping
station, an electric power station and two massive hotels were also
destroyed in the course of the American attacks on Saturday.
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Terrified Residents Flee Iraq Fighting
POSTED: 3:19 pm EST November 6, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Scores of terrified Iraqis fled a besieged town
Sunday, waving white flags and hauling their belongings to escape a
second day of fighting between U.S. Marines and al-Qaida militants
along the Syrian border. U.S. and Iraqi troops battled insurgents
house-to-house, the U.S. military said.
Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, a U.S. military spokesman,
told reporters in Baghdad that none of the 3,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops
had been killed since the assault on Husaybah, 200 miles northwest of
the capital, began Saturday.
"We are having contact with the enemy, but we are not meeting stiff
resistance," Alston said Sunday. "They are using small-arms fire."
In a statement late Sunday, the U.S. Marines said American jets
struck at least 10 targets Sunday in Husaybah, a market town along the
Euphrates River valley that used to have a population of about 30,000.
At least 17 insurgents had been confirmed killed since the assault
began but "many more are suspected of being killed," according to the
statement.
The Marines added that the U.S.-Iraqi force was "clearing the city,
house by house" and had been taking fire from insurgents holed up in
homes, mosques and schools.
Residents of the area said by satellite phone that sounds of
explosions diminished somewhat Sunday, although bursts of automatic
weapons fire could be heard throughout the day. The residents said
coalition forces warned people by loudspeakers to leave on foot because
troops would fire on vehicles.
"I left everything behind _ my car, my house," said Ahmed Mukhlef,
35, a teacher who fled Husaybah early Sunday with his wife and two
children while carrying a white bed sheet tied to a stick. "I don't
care if my house is bombed or looted, as long as I have my kids and
wife safe with me."
Marines said about 450 people had taken refuge in a vacant housing
area in Husaybah under the control of Iraqi forces. Others were
believed to have fled to relatives in nearby towns and villages in the
predominantly Sunni Arab area of Anbar province.
U.S. officials have described Husaybah as a stronghold of al-Qaida
in Iraq, led by Jordanian extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and a major
way station used to smuggle foreign fighters, weapons and ammunition
from Syria down the Euphrates River valley to Baghdad and other cities.
Several people identified as key al-Qaida in Iraq officials have
been killed in recent airstrikes in the Husaybah area, the U.S.
military has said. Most were described as "facilitators" who helped
smuggle would-be suicide bombers from Syria.
Syria has denied helping militants sneak into Iraq, and witnesses
said Syrian border guards had stepped up surveillance on their side of
the border since the assault on Husaybah began.
The Americans hope the Husaybah operation will help restore enough
security in the area so the Sunni Arab population can take part in Dec.
15 national parliamentary elections. If the Sunnis win a significant
number of seats in the new parliament, the Americans hope that will
persuade more members of the minority to lay down their arms and join
the political process, enabling U.S. and other international troops to
begin withdrawing next year.
"The insurgents are throwing everything they have at the Iraqi
people and coalition forces in an effort to derail Iraq's democratic
reforms," Alston said.
He said the offensive is aimed at interrupting the supply lines
that al-Qaida in Iraq uses to launch some of the deadliest suicide
attacks hitting Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
However, a protracted battle in Husaybah with civilian casualties
risks a backlash in the Sunni Arab community, which provides most of
the insurgents.
In Baghdad, Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, head of the largest Sunni Arab
political party, sharply criticized "all military operations directed
against civilian targets" because they "lead to the killing of innocent
people and the destruction of towns and cities."
Saleh al-Mutlaq, head of another Sunni faction and a member of the
committee that drafted the new constitution, accused the Americans and
their Iraqi allies of mounting "a destructive and killing operation of
secure cities and villages" on the "pretext that they hide and secure
terrorists."
The U.S.-led assault, codenamed "Operation Steel Curtain," includes
about 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and will serve as a major test of the
fledgling army's capability to battle insurgents _ seen as essential to
enabling Washington to draw down its 157,000-strong military presence.
Elsewhere, U.S. Army snipers killed eight insurgents Sunday in
separate incidents in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, the U.S.
command said. One of the insurgents was shot dead when he was found
planting a roadside bomb, the U.S. statement said.
Three others were killed when they drove to the site of the first
shooting and began firing "sporadically in all directions," the
statement added. The other four were killed after trying to plant
roadside bombs in other parts of the city, the statement said.
In Baghdad, two people were killed and nine wounded when a car bomb
exploded near a tunnel, police Capt. Qassim Hussein said. Gunmen firing
from two speeding cars also fired on civilians near a bus stop in the
capital, killing a policeman and wounding five other people, police
said.
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