Operation Steel Curtain enters another phase

As I suspected, the next target in Operation Steel Curtain is the town of Rammanah on the north side of the Euphrates.

According to this press release from Capt. Jeffrey Pool, at Blackanthem.com...

Iraqi Army Soldiers and Marines, Soldiers and Sailors continue Operation al Hajip Elfulathi (Steel Curtain) in the al Qaim region November 18.

Iraqi Soldiers and U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to Regimental Combat Team - 2 have begun clearing the Ramana area, which is west of Ubaydi on the northern side of the Euphrates River.

Ramana is a rural, agricultural region with dozens of small villages. The goals of Operation Steel Curtain are to restore Iraqi sovereign control along the Iraq-Syria border and destroy the al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists operating throughout the al Qaim region.

No resistance to the clearing operations has been encountered in Ramana. Iraqi Desert Protectors positively identified seven al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists, who were detained for further questioning.

(See Bill Roggio's map here)

As noted, the purpose of Steel Curtain is to make the area safe for the elections in December, to squelch the flow of foreign fighters through the region, and to establish a permanent security presence in these western river towns.

So far the main actions in Steel Curtain have been on the south side of the river. The stated mission of Steel Curtain could not be accomplished without going to the north side of the river. It is crucial to establish a permanent presence there, too.

Rabit is likely to be a target of Steel Curtain as well.

(Thanks for the tip to Rich, the father of a Marine currently taking part in Steel Curtain. Today was a school day for me, and have been busy all day, and so was slow in getting to today's developments.)