Iraqi-led campaign against city’s Sunni militants appears to be a sign of progress among its militar

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Iraqi-led campaign against city’s Sunni militants appears to be a sign of progress among its military
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, May 22, 2008

MOSUL, Iraq — Few outside observers following Lt. Col. Sagvon Mirani on Wednesday would have imagined he was a part of a potentially momentous military operation.

The Kurdish battalion commander strolled through avenues in the Sunni-dominated Al Bareed neighborhood, chatting with any of the residents who happened to be out in the cool Iraqi morning. Mirani jotted down complaints about electricity problems. He tussled kids’ hair and gave a couple of boys Iraqi dinars worth about $1 each, joking with one that he was paying him not to lay roadside bombs.

Yet Mirani’s easygoing manner is, itself, a testament to the success the Iraqi army has had in the city during the past month. Wednesday’s mission was the most recent phase of an ongoing operation against Sunni insurgents in Mosul, an action that coalition and Iraqi leaders say has been successful. Sunni insurgents like those from al-Qaida in Iraq fled to Mosul after crackdowns in other parts of the country, and many analysts see the city as one of the group’s last urban strongholds.

Lion’s Roar, as the Mosul operation was initially called, kicked off May 10 with a weeklong search to find 400 suspected insurgents on a government list. National Police, Iraqi SWAT teams, Iraqi Special Operations Forces and other units reinforced Iraqi army units already in the city.

Searches have since continued throughout Mosul, with Iraqi forces clearing every house in a neighborhood until the entire city has been searched. The government recently changed the operation’s name to""Mother of Two Springs,""Mosul’s nickname, to reflect a shift away from combat operations.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54987