The wild west

Coalition forces continue to put pressure on the terrorists in the Euphrates river towns near the Syrian border in western Iraq.

CentCom issued this press release today:

A Saudi-born member of al Qaeda involved in smuggling foreign fighters into Iraq was killed Oct. 29 as he attempted to flee Coalition Forces.

Multiple intelligence sources and tips from concerned citizens led Coalition Forces to a location near Ubaydi where a senior Saudi al Qaeda foreign fighter facilitator known as Sa’ud (aka Abu Sa’ud) would be located. Upon arrival at the location, Coalition Forces attempted to secure the vehicle containing Sa’ud and other terrorists when the driver tried to escape. Coalition Forces shot at the vehicle, killing Abu Sa’ud and three unknown terrorists.

Abu Sa’ud, a Saudi extremist, was a senior al Qaeda terrorist who funneled foreign fighters and suicide bombers into Iraq. Intelligence sources believe that Sa’ud recently arrived from Saudi Arabia to shore up the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq foreign fighter and terrorists cells whose previous leaders have been captured or killed in recent months.

Coalition Forces were informed that an alleged meeting was being arranged in the coming days in which Sa’ud was to take control of foreign fighter facilitation in the al Qaim and Husaybah region. It was also believed that Sa’ud would take on a more active role in the planning and execution of operations against Coalition Forces.

(Security Watchtower has a map showing the location of these western towns. See also Bill Roggio's map here.)

Note that Sa'ud is believed to have "recently arrived". No doubt because the supply of terrorists to manage the terrorist underground railroad has been rapidly dwindling of late, and reinforcements are being called in.

By my count, this is at least the fourth senior foreign fighter facilitator killed in the region in a month, the third in three days.

Facilitator	Killed in	Date killed
Abu Nasir	Ushsh	Sept 26
Abu Dua	Ushsh	Oct 26
Abu Mahmud	Husaybah	Oct 28
Abu Sa'ud	Ubaydi	Oct 29

The US military, particularly the Marines of the II MEF, have been conducting operations in the area since last spring, operations intended to interdict the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq. There was Operation Matador in May, Operation Spear in June, operations in July, operations in August, and Operation Hunter in September and into October.

The difference is, and an important reason why such rapid successes are coming now, is that since Operation Iron Fist, which began October 1, the Coalition Forces are establishing a permanent presence in these western river towns. As the press releases above indicate, locals are providing intelligence, and the simple fact is they now have someone to go to with their tips. Iraqi forces are also present along the Euphrates now. They will eventually provide permanent security.

There have been other successful operations in this western area recently. See my posts Reading between the lines and More intelligence successes in Iraq.

Today the AP is reporting that two safe houses were attacked in an air strike in Obeidi. (I believe Obeidi and Ubaydi are the same place.) The houses were being used by a senior Al Qaeda in Iraq cell leader, thought there was no word on whether the cell leader was in the house at the time of the attack.

Coalition Forces continue to generate useful intelligence leads, and have achieved significant results in attacking the pipeline bringing in fighters from Syria.

The fact that intelligence is so good that the good guys can catch up with someone like Sa'ud so soon after his arrival is encouraging.

Syria is feeling enormous pressure on a number of fronts. The UN Report on the Hariri assassination in Lebanon reached into the highest levels of the Syrian government, and international pressure is mounting.

In a post entitled Dominos, I speculated that as result of the important capture of Abu Khalil, a high-level terrorist finance operative, Syria may have been pressured behind the scenes to turn over Yasir Sabhawi Ibrahim, another top financier of the terrorist organization.

If that is true, it is possible Syria is among the "multiple intellgence sources" mentioned above, as part of an effort to give up enough to stave off US military action. Again, I am speculating here, but momentum is building in these western river towns, and Assad and his gang have to be wondering if the US forces run out of things to do in these western towns, if these troops will turn their full attention to Syria, where the foreign fighters are coming from in the first place.

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Bill Roggio points out the US is already conducting cross-border raids.