Destroying the 'Defensive Belts'

Destroying the 'Defensive Belts'
Associated Press | January 12, 2008

BAGHDAD, Iraq - One of the largest bombing campaigns of the war destroyed extremists' "defensive belts" south of Baghdad, allowing American Soldiers to push into areas where they have not been in years, a top commander said Friday.

The day before, two B1-B bombers and four F-16 fighter jets dropped 48 precision-guided bombs on 47 targets, U.S. Air Force Col. Peter Donnelly, commander of the 18th Expeditionary Air Support Operations Group, told reporters in Baghdad.

The targets consisted mainly of weapons caches and powerful roadside bombs buried deep underground - key defensive elements for al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents, said Donnelly and Army Col. Terry Ferrell, commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.

Extremists were believed to have controlled Arab Jabour, a Sunni district lined with citrus groves, but Ferrell said "the predominant number" have now fled to the southwest since his troops' operations began Jan. 1.

"We're moving into areas where coalition forces have not been in months or years in some cases," Ferrell told reporters via a video link, adding that insurgents "had established a deliberate defensive belt to deny our movement in the area."


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