Broken Arrow: “Operation Spear” Ends After Failing To Break Iraqi Resistance
Jun 22, 2005
By Muhammad Abu Nasr, Free Arab Voice; Edited For Publication By JUS

In a dispatch posted at 11am Mecca time Tuesday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that more than 500 US troops withdrew from the eastern and northern approaches to the city of al-Qa’im on the border with Syria after grueling fighting over several days in which the Americans failed to break the defenses of the Iraqi Resistance.

An American sergeant, Alex Senior, acknowledged to a number of Arab and international reporters in al-Qa’im, including the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam, that the fighting had been fierce on Monday as well, prior to the American decision to retreat.

US forces remained in strength along the western approaches to al-Qa’im, fearful that Iraqi Resistance fighters infiltrate into the city. To the east and north, however, fighters pounded the retreating Americans with rocket barrages, inflicting heavy losses in their ranks and compelling them to stop for a full hour to await the arrival of helicopters and warplanes to cover their withdrawal and to try to pinpoint the sources of the fire directed at them.

Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported later on Tuesday that a US military spokesman officially declared the “successful conclusion” of their four-day “Operation Spear,” which supposedly targeted the Iraqi Resistance in the area of al-Karabilah village and al-Qa’im, but decimated the local civilian population and devastated the local infrastructure.

Mafkarat al-Islam reported from al-Qa’im that as a result of the American offensive, more than 156 local houses and 400 shops had been destroyed by the American offensive. Five mosques were razed to the ground and four schools, one hospital, one medical clinic, one electric power generating plant, one water purification plant were totally destroyed the attacking US forces, from the air of course. On Tuesday morning alone, the bodies of 54 local people, including 31 women and children, were pulled from the ruins of the devastated buildings.

Local citizens have formed search and rescue teams to try to find the rest of the bodies of the civilians that the Americans killed, Their number is thought to exceed 110.

Over the several days of fighting and as of dawn on Tuesday, reports from various Mujahideen groupsm as well as reports filed by Mafkarat al-Islam calculated that more than 130 US soldiers and more than 70 Iraqi puppet troops had been killed during the four day offensive. Six helicopters were downed over al-Qa’im and the villages of al-Karabilah and ar-Rummanah.

Bomb Blasts US Forces In Al-Qa’im

In a dispatch posted at 11:59am Mecca time Tuesday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while before a bomb had exploded by a US military column in the industrial zone in al-Qa’im. A captain in the Iraqi puppet army told the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam in al-Qa’im that a white, 1982-model Supra that was packed with explosives blew up as a US column was passing by. The source said that the blast destroyed two Humvees, reportedly killing nine US troops.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported seeing US forces encircle the area after the explosion. He said, however, that the American helicopters were unable to land in the area to evacuate the bodies because the area was too small. This compelled the Americans to evacuate their casualties to their base in al-Haditah using armored vehicles.

Quds Press reported that a white explosives-laden car that was parked by the side of a road exploded by a passing US military column Tuesday morning, completely destroying one American vehicle and wounding a number of American troops.

Sources told Quds Press that the attack, which took place to the west of the city, also set a fuel tank truck ablaze. That vehicle continued to burn for a long time after the explosion.

In its dispatch posted at 9:25am GMT, Quds Press reported that following the attack, US forces encircled the area and prevented journalists from approaching as they called in helicopters that prowled the skies overhead searching in vain for the Resistance attackers.

US Apache Downed Late Tuesday Afternoon

In a dispatch posted at 6pm Mecca time Tuesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while before, resistance forces had fired some type of rocket and brought down a US Apache helicopter. Witnesses told Mafkarat al-Islam that they saw the rocket strike the helicopter, which then caught fire and plunged to earth west of the city.

At the time of reporting, US occupation troops had encircled the crash area and were searching for the downed crew. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the search operation would not be easy. The craft went down in a thickly wooded area where it would be difficult to find the bodies of the crewmen or to evacuate them if they are wounded.