Iraq Watch: November 6, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - 'Operation Steel Curtain' moved into its second day as U.S. and Iraqi forces combed through the dusty streets of the predominately Sunni town of Husaybah, 200 miles northwest of Baghdad, on Sunday searching house-to-house for suspected insurgents with ties to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorist group, al-Qaida in Iraq.

Many residents of Husaybah fled the city in anticipatiion of violence. Ahmed Mukhlef, a 35 year-old teacher from the besieged town, told the Associated Press, "I left everything behind — my car, my house. I don't care if my house is bombed or looted, as long as I have my kids and wife safe with me."

Husaybah, located on the Iraqi-Syrian border, is considered to be a vital city for foreign fighters infiltrating into Iraq and a staging ground of sorts for insurgent attacks.

Saleh al-Mutlaq, head of the Sunni National Dialogue Council, criticized the military operation in a Sunday press conference stating, "American forces accompanied by what is called the Iraqi army and national guard are conducting a destructive and killing operation of secure cities and villages on the pretext that they hide and secure terrorists."

In other violence on Sunday, three Iraqis were killed and seven injured in a car bomb attack in the western Baghdad district of Yarmuk.

Elsewhere, three truck drivers delivering supplies to coalition forces were killed in an ambush near Balad, about 45 miles north of the capital.