Related Event: Iraq in Transition

US troops and Iraqi forces continued efforts on Wednesday to retake three towns on the Euphrates River from insurgents in their biggest operation this year in western Iraq.

Over two thousand US troops, along with Iraqi forces, launched their operation late on Monday and early on Tuesday with a powerful air assault on Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Parwana, about 230 kilometers northwest of Baghdad.

Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kubba said there were a dozen operations in progress.
"There were joint operations in all the valley of Euphrates. In total there are 12 operations. I would say that the most important operation which is going on now is in Haditha. In Haditha now, there are about three thousand Iraqi soldiers inside the city."

The operation, codenamed ‘River Gate' is aimed at stopping Sunni-led militants intensifying their campaign of violence ahead of an October 15 vote on Iraq's new constitution.

In Washington, US President George W Bush acknowledged that the insurgents intend to disrupt the constitutional process in Iraq.
"We're on the offensive against insurgents and terrorists and we fully understand they intend to disrupt the constitutional process, or will try to do so, as well as stop the progress of democracy. And part of the way the Pentagon and the folks on the ground are going to deal with it is to stay on the offensive."

The operation was launched at the start of the holy month of Ramadan. It is the second US offensive in a week in Anbar province, which borders Syria.