U.S. Launches Fallujah Offensive

The skies above Fallujah burned red as artillery, warplanes and tanks pounded the city, said an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist embedded with the military.

Intense air strikes and artillery fire rained down on the city as the Marines advanced at least four blocks into the city. Helicopters flew overhead, reports Reuters news agency.

When air attacks eased, artillery shells rained down on Falluja. Cobra helicopters fired rockets and gunfire crackled as U.S. forces peered through binoculars at guerrilla targets.

Heavy gunfire ripped through the outskirts of the city as U.S. and Iraqi troops ventured into the rebel enclave, while warplanes pounded the center in several hours of bitter fighting that left at least 38 insurgents dead.

Giving the green light for the assault, Allawi said he had authorized the U.S.-led military to wrest the insurgency bastion from rebel hands.

"We are determined to clean Fallujah from the terrorists," Allawi told a news conference in Baghdad, adding that the U.S.-led operation had his authority, reports Reuters.

Black smoke plumed above the western fringe of Fallujah, where U.S. and Iraqi forces had seized the main hospital and two bridges in their first major foray before dawn, which pre-empted a day of violent clashes.

Earlier, Marines unleashed a barrage of tank and machinegun fire on a nearby railway station, clearing the way for the ground assault, reports Reuters.

Allawi, using emergency powers, closed Baghdad international airport for 48 hours and imposed an indefinite curfew from 6:00 pm on Fallujah, saying that it would be lifted on an area-by-area basis as it was brought under government control.

"I have no other choice but to resort to extreme measures to protect the Iraqi people from these killers and to liberate the residents of Fallujah so they can return to their homes."

Allawi also tightened controls on the borders with Jordan and Syria, saying only essential goods would be allowed in, reports Reuters.

Allawi declared 60 days of emergency rule on Sunday to crush an insurgency ahead of planned elections in January.

Marines and Iraqi special forces met minimal resistance when they took control of the hospital and two bridges. But that changed within hours as they were forced to fight for the territory, using helicopters, planes and tanks, a pool reporter said.

A number of buildings, suspected of being used by insurgents, were destroyed and several others set ablaze following five hours of clashes that continued to rage.

Allawi said 38 insurgents had been killed in initial clashes and four foreign fighters detained, including two Moroccans.

Violence also raged in the northwest where at least four 2,000-pound bombs were dropped, the AFP reporter with the Marines said.

Marines poured into a complex of several buildings, including two apartment blocks, a school, a mosque and a government building, in the northwest sector.

About 230 Iraqis were found still living in the complex, some milling about in their underwear. They would be evacuated from the city, the reporter said, noting that women and children were among the inhabitants.

Marines picked two men out from the crowd, bound their hands together and demanded that they reveal the whereabouts of fighters. The pair were unable to give any information, and were released.

Some 20,000 U.S and Iraqi troops are massed around Fallujah, a city that has come to symbolize resistance against Allawi's U.S.-backed government.

Outside the city, U.S. troops set up mortar positions and filled sandbags in preparation for an anticipated assault, reports the AP.

Allawi told a news conference that he had called on Arab leaders to help negotiate with the rebels, but added, "We have reached the conclusion that we have to take the decision that saves the political process and stability of the country."

Clamping down on movement, U.S. troops banned men aged from 15 to 50 from entering or leaving Fallujah, warning they could become a target.

Women and children will be allowed to leave the city but cannot return until "order is restored," the U.S. military said, according to an AFP photographer with the troops.

Marine commanders have warned the new offensive could bring the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam War, reports the AP.

U.S. commanders estimate that 2,000 to 2,500 fighters, some loyal to Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are inside the city and its surrounding areas ready to fight.

The military believes that another 10,000 men could join in the battle.

Much depends on whether the bulk of the defenders, believed to be Iraqis from the Fallujah area, decide to risk the destruction of the city or try to slip away in the face of overwhelming force. Foreign jihadis may choose to fight to the end, but it's unclear how many of them are still in the city, reports the AP.



The U.S. military has conducted an intensifying campaign of aerial bombardments against the city, coupled with artillery fire in recent days as chances of a peaceful resolution faded.

About 80-to-90 percent of Fallujah's 300,000-strong population is thought to have fled to city due to fears of an imminent showdown.

Attempts to broker a peaceful solution between Baghdad and local leaders collapsed last month after Allawi threatened Fallujah with invasion if they did not surrender militants such as Zarqawi, al-Qaeda’s frontman in Iraq.

City leaders insist that the Jordanian-born Zarqawi, wanted for a string of deadly attacks and hostage beheadings, does not reside in Fallujah.

For his part, Zarqawi called on Muslims to take up arms against America. "Oh people, the war has begun and the call for jihad [“holy war” in this sense] has been made," he said in an Internet statement, reports Reuters.

Another issue is the role of Iraqi forces fighting alongside the Americans. Clerics in Fallujah denounced Iraqi troops participating in the assault, calling them the "occupiers' lash on their fellow countrymen," reports the AP.

"We swear by God that we will stand against you in the streets, we will enter your houses and we will slaughter you just like sheep," the clerics said in a statement.



A senior aide to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqi forces not to fight alongside U.S. troops.



"We appeal to the Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi police not to help the occupation troops as they want to target the Iraqi people in Fallujah," said Sheikh Abdul-Hadi al-Daraji. The Iraqi troops should not be a tool in the hands of the occupation troops."

Arab states appealed Monday for both sides to spare civilian lives in the brewing bloody showdown. A previous siege of the city by U.S. Marines in April left hundreds dead and ended in a stalemate.

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