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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Aid convoy reaches Fallujah, now under US/Iraqi control |
| 2004-11-14 |
| A Red Crescent convoy reached Falluja on Saturday with the first aid since U.S.-led forces began blasting their way in five days ago, and U.S. and Iraqi officials said only pockets of rebel resistance remained. The offensive on Falluja has fueled violence across Iraq 's Sunni Muslim heartland, especially in the northern city of Mosul where guerrillas fought on and kept control of some districts. The U.S.-backed interim government, which has vowed to crush a widespread insurgency before planned nationwide elections in January, said Baghdad's international airport -- initially closed on Monday for 48 hours -- would remain shut indefinitely. "Conditions in Falluja are catastrophic," said Iraqi Red Crescent spokeswoman Firdoos al-Abadi, whose organization says there are severe shortages of food and medicine in the city. Abadi said the Red Crescent's five trucks and three ambulances had arrived at the main hospital on the western edge of Falluja, some 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad. It is unclear how many of Falluja's 300,000 people remain in the city, but about half are believed to have fled before the ground assault began on Monday. There has also been no firm word on civilian casualties. National Security Minister of State Kasim Daoud said more than 1,000 guerrillas had been killed in Falluja, which the interim government and Washington say has been a base for Saddam Hussein supporters and foreign Islamic fighters. "The operations are almost over. There are only pockets of resistance left," Daoud told a news conference, adding that around 200 guerrillas had been captured. "The coalition and Iraqi forces have completed the move, for all practical purposes, from the north down to the south (in Falluja)," said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "I don't mean to suggest that it's concluded. It's not, for sure," Rumsfeld told reporters during a visit to Panama. U.S. Major Clark Watson said American forces expected to overcome the rebels in their last main redoubt, the Shuhada area in the south of the city, within 72 hours but were facing tough resistance from Syrian, Chechen and other foreign fighters. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 The counter offensive has now begun. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-14 11:10:34 AM |