WP: U.S. Widens Offensive In Far Western Iraq

[Rose Siding]

BAGHDAD, Nov. 14 -- The U.S. military broadened its offensive in western Iraq on Monday, launching a major attack on insurgent positions in the town of Ubaydi near the Syrian border and killing about 50 insurgents in precision airstrikes and house-to-house street fighting, according to news reports and the U.S. military.

U.S. and Iraqi troops reportedly faced stiff resistance from machine-gun and small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

U.S. airstrikes hit five targets, the U.S. military reported. "The insurgents were engaging Coalition Forces with small arms fire at the time of the strikes," a U.S. military statement said.
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The U.S. military also is trying to smash a smuggling network used by al Qaeda to bring foreign fighters, money and weapons from Syria into the Iraqi heartland via the Euphrates River valley, which runs from the border almost to Baghdad, U.S. officials said.

At least two Marines have been killed in the operation and nine have been wounded, according to official reports.

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