Marines closing al Qaeda rat lines to Mosul

AP:

U.S. and Iraqi troops moved against al-Qaida on two separate fronts Thursday, with house-to-house searches in Mosul and an operation in the desert to stanch the flow of insurgents and weapons to that northern city.

With the new sweep, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is aiming to put down Sunni extremists after launching two other major offensives elsewhere in as many months targeting Shiite militants. Mosul, a key transport crossroads between Baghdad, Syria and other points, is considered the last major urban base of al-Qaida in Iraq after the group lost strongholds in western Anbar province.

U.S.-backed Iraqi troops searched homes and the U.S. military announced that the forces in Mosul captured a suspected al-Qaida figure involved in organizing car bombings and smuggling foreign fighters into the country.

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American Marines were operating farther south, near Lake Tharthar, a remote desert region that has been a refuge for al-Qaida fighters and a back channel for supplying the network in the north.

"We're trying to shut down the rat lines," Marine Brig. Gen. Richard Mills, who is heading up the operation, told a briefing at a mobile command post set up in the Mameluke desert.

U.S. Marines on Thursday searched an abandoned mud house, uncovering six weapons caches including material for building roadside bombs.

Marine Capt. Josh Biggers said they discovered evidence that insurgents had recently used the area: broken egg shells scattered across a floor in one room, new electrical fixtures and the outline on the floor of what troops believe may have been a generator.

"Somebody was definitely here," said Biggers, 30, of Edmond, Okla.

Lake Tharthar - once Saddam Hussein's favorite fishing spot - lies between Mosul and the former Sunni insurgent strongholds of Fallujah and Ramadi. Many al-Qaida fighters hid in the desolate region after losing control of those cities, and the U.S. military believes the group has been using it for training and as a supply route.

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"We came to restore the dignity of the law and the state in the city," al-Maliki told the tribesmen. "We should destroy all the barriers and walls that have risen between us on sectarian lines."

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Maliki's third major offensive in a matter of weeks suggest a new boldness on the part of the Iraqi leadership and the growing capability of the Iraqi army. The Marines' operation in the desert also follows their announcement that they will be turning over responsibility for the Anbar region to the Iraqis.

The cordon and search operation in Mosul should make it difficult for the enemy to operate and move to contact. The cooperation of the local tribes is also good news for the Iraqi government.