Iraqi ministers said on Thursday the government would pour tens of thousands of Iraqi troops into Baghdad in an unprecedented operation to seal off the city and hunt insurgents.
Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi said 40,000 Iraqi troops would be deployed in Baghdad for Operation Thunder, the biggest Iraqi military operation since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Backed by the 10,000 U.S. troops in Baghdad, they will set up hundreds of checkpoints and block roads into the capital.
The move comes a day after U.S. forces launched Operation New Market, a security sweep in the town of Haditha, 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Baghdad, where 1,000 U.S. Marines and sailors, backed by Iraqi troops, are searching for militants.
Operation New Market is the second major offensive in the area this month as U.S. and Iraqi forces step up their hunt for followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who heads al Qaeda's network in Iraq.
Although I was disappointed that Iraqis aren't with the US forces moving in western Anbar province, the fact that Iraqis can take a bigger role in the core area means US forces can move into the west where we have not been active before (this insight from Strategypage). The US actions will make it easier for the Iraqis in Operation Thunder to operate effectively.
A major Iraqi operation following on the earlier one where US forces were in a minor supporting role is a good sign that we are handing off the fight to the Iraqi government. In time, Iraqi government forces will be in western Anbar, too.
Iraq--Shias, Kurds, and sane Sunnis--are the ones who must win the fight againt jihadis and Baathists.
