Iraq Watch: November 14, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The joint U.S.-Iraqi military offensive dubbed 'Operation Steel Curtain', aimed at rooting out suspected militants near the Syrian border, moved into the town of Ubaydi (or Obeidi) on Monday.

The "sporadic but heavy" fighting in Ubaydi has resulted in casulities on both sides according to reports. Many western Iraqi cities located in the Euphrates River valley like Ubaydi, Husaybah, al-Qaim, and Karabilah are believed to be inhabited with insurgents who are suspected of having ties with al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber targeted a convoy of foreign security contractors killing two South Africans and wounding three others, including an American. The covoy of SUV's was hit as it was leaving the heavily fortified 'Green Zone'. The blast sent plumes of black smoke across the capital city's early-morning skyline.

Elsewhere, in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a roadside bomb apparently intended for a passing U.S. military convoy missed and instead hit two buses killing at least six and injuring 30 others.

A separate roadside bomb blast killed three civilians and wounded four others in eastern Baghdad.

Meanwhile, confusion continued to swirl amid conflicting reports about the status of a top official under Saddam Hussein's deposed regime. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who served as vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, has long reported to be suffering from leukemia. According to AFP, U.S. and Iraqi forces on Monday beseiged Izzat's hometown of Duri, near Tikrit, and were conducting house-to-house searches.