BAGHDAD, 10 September 2005 — Iraqi and US forces have stepped up their offensive against rebels in the northern town of Tal Afar, while tightening security on the nearby Syrian border, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said yesterday. “Iraqi security and coalition forces continue to eliminate terrorists and foreign fighters in Tal Afar and they will continue to pursue this endeavor to the end,” Jaafari said in a statement. “We are taking additional measures to ensure security and stability in Tal Afar and to restore its people’s rights,” he added.
Jaafari also said that the government had decided to ramp up security controls along the border with Syria: “We have tightened security on the border between (the northern province of) Nineveh and Syria.” Tal Afar, an insurgent stronghold, is believed to provide a shortcut for foreign fighters infiltrating Iraq to join the raging insurgency.
The US military had announced Thursday that US-led forces were preparing to launch a military offensive to root out insurgents from Tal Afar, where entire neighborhoods are in the hands of rebel groups.
Around 215 “terrorists” have been killed or captured in Tal Afar by US-led forces during the past eight days, according to US military statements. “The Iraqi government and humanitarian agencies have established temporary housing, food and medical care for those citizens” displaced due to the unrest in Tal Afar, Jaafari said.
Meanwhile, the printing of the draft constitution has been delayed, reportedly with new amendments to accommodate demands of disenchanted Sunni Arabs to ensure the Arab identity of Iraq. The Arab League also pledged to open a representative office in the war-torn country.
The United Nations, which is in charge of printing some five million copies of the new constitution to distribute to Iraqi families before the scheduled referendum, said it has not yet received the final text.
“We are hoping to receive it at least by Sunday,” Nicholas Haysom, UN official in charge of constitutional affairs, said. He insisted that the United Nations needs confirmation that the delivered text is the official one, and the best way is through the national assembly. “We would want it to come through the parliament,” Haysom added.
The Iraqi Parliament is to convene tomorrow enabling a possible ratification of the text. According to recent changes added to the text, “it has been agreed that Iraq is part of the Arab nation,” said Shiite panelist Bahaa Al-Araji.
Article 3 of the proposed charter had stipulated that Iraq is “part of the Muslim world, and its Arab people are part of the Arab nation,” infuriating Sunni Arabs, whose elite had ruled the country for decades until the ousting of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
In what appears to be a sign of approval, Arab foreign ministers Thursday approved the opening of a representative office in Iraq, just days after President Jalal Talabani lambasted Arab countries for their reluctance to send envoys.
Meanwhile, eight Iraqis, including a police officer, were killed and six others wounded in separate rebel attacks in Baghdad, including a car bomb targeting a US army convoy, and to the north of the capital. American citizen Roy Hallums, who was rescued Wednesday from kidnappers after a 10-month ordeal, has left Iraq for the United States aboard a military transport plane, the US military said.
And Baghdad International Airport was closed yesterday over a contract dispute between the government and a British firm that provides airport security, leading to a standoff between the company’s privately-hired guards and Iraqi forces.
Iraqi authorities dispatched security forces to take over in a bid to keep the airport open, but the company said their guards stood their ground at perimeter checkpoints while US soldiers arrived on the scene.
