US troops clashed yesterday with Sunni insurgents west of the capital and gunmen assassinated Baghdad's deputy governor as fresh US soldiers arrived in the capital -- a move that will push US military strength in Iraq to its highest level since last summer.
An Iraqi freelance television cameraman was killed yesterday while filming skirmishes between US Marines and Iraqi insurgents in Ramadi, 110km west of Baghdad.
US artillery yesterday pounded suspected insurgent positions in Fallujah, witnesses said. US forces are gearing up for an offensive in Fallujah and other Sunni strongholds if Iraqi mediation fails to win agreement to hand over foreign Arab fighters and other militants.
US and Iraqi officials hope to curb the insurgency in time for national elections by the end of January. Voter registration for the January balloting began yesterday.
In order to provide enough security for the voting, Army units slated to depart are being held back until after the election. The delays in departures and the arrival of new units will push the total US military presence in Iraq to around 142,000.
At Camp Victory North, the sprawling headquarters of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, the mess hall and housing trailers were brimming to capacity with the arrival of the 3,700-member Louisiana-based 256th Enhanced Separate Brigade, a National Guard unit that has been rolling into Baghdad the past few days.
The arrival of the 256th was supposed to have been timed with the departure of the 1st Cavalry's 2nd Brigade, which was scheduled to prepare to return to Fort Hood, Texas, this month. But the Pentagon delayed the 2nd Brigade's departure by two months, military officials said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi warned on Sunday that efforts to resolve the standoff in Fallujah peacefully have entered their "final phase" and that his patience was running short before launching "a military solution" to the Sunni insurgents' hold over the city.
In a speech that seemed aimed at preparing the Iraqi public for an onslaught, Allawi warned of civilian casualties, saying that if he ordered an assault, it would be with a "heavy heart," because "there will be some loss of innocent lives."
"But I owe, owe it to the Iraqi people to defend them from the violence and the terrorists and insurgents," he said.
US officials say the final order for an all-out attack on Fallujah will come from Allawi. Commanders have estimated that up to 5,000 Islamic militants, loyalists of former president Saddam Hussein and common criminals are holed up there.
The rumble of strong but distant explosions echoed through central Baghdad throughout the day yesterday and the roar of US jets could be heard in the overcast skies.
Baghdad Province Deputy Gov-ernor Hatim Kamil was killed when gunmen opened fire on his car in the southern Doura neighborhood, Iraqi authorities said. Two bodyguards were also wounded in the attack, officials said.
One US Marine was killed and four others wounded on Sunday when a bomb exploded in Ramadi, one of the leading insurgent strongholds.
Heavy clashes between US forces and insurgents continued yesterday in Ramadi. One woman was killed and her two children injured during the fighting, hospital officials said.
In the city of Tikrit in Iraq's Sunni Triangle, a rocket slammed into the Sunubar Hotel late on Sunday, killing 15 Iraqis and wounding eight others, hospital officials said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS