SPECIAL BULLETIN: US Forces Have NOT Taken Fallujah

Nov 13, 2004
by Omar Al-Faris, JUS and Muhammad Abu Nasr, Free Arab Voice

While JUS normally publishes articles and editorial comments on the
weekend, the decisive battle that is raging in Fallujah can't be
ignored. Consequently we are filing this special bulletin and will
keep you updated as news comes in from the city over the weekend.

US forces that remain inside Fallujah are now surrounded. The American
were forced to move troops out of the city as the conflict widened and
is now raging throughout the Sunni triangle and in the capital city.

In a bait and switch maneuver, Mujahideen in the city Friday allowed
US aggressor troops into several areas of the city and then encircled
them. This allowed the Mujahideen to wage the battle on their own
terms. The US military has been mobbing along the main roads and
avoiding the side-streets. The soldiers do not leave their armored
vehicles and tanks. If they get fired on, they fire back from their
tanks or call in air-strikes. By convincing the Americans that the
Mujahideen had left, the fighters were able to attack and fight the US
troops in areas where their aircraft and heavy weapons can not help
them.

According to plan, US troops proceeded down as-Sirdar Street in the
al-Jawlan and ash-Shurtah neighborhoods. They also entered the
al-'Askari neighborhood from the direction of the First and Second
ad-Dubbat neighborhoods on the street that runs between the
ash-Shurtah neighborhood to the north and the al-'Askari neighborhood
to the south, bringing the US troops to the heart of the main street.
There the attacks on the US forces began in earnest.

The Mujahideen mounted several ambushes on the US troops and managed
to cut some units off from the others, splitting up the attackers and
enabling them to inflict damage on the American forces in men and
materiel. The Mujahideen totally purged the industrial zone of
American invader troops from the southeast. The an-Nazal and
ash-Shuhada' areas were also cleared of American forces. As of 10 pm
local time Friday night, fighting was limited to the edges of those
districts. At that time an entire US column was surrounded on
al-Hadrah Street which is located between the ash-Shurtah neighborhood
and the ad-Dubbat neighborhood.

Mujahideen forces ambushed the Americans in those areas by posting
sharpshooters along the path where the US troops were to come,
enabling them to shoot down numerous foot soldiers that had been
dropped from the air in Festival Square [Sahat al-Ihtifalat]. At the
same time the narrow lanes pressed the forces of the two sides close
together, preventing the Americans from making use of their airpower.
US snipers on rooftops in Al-Jawlan have proven to be useless as the
streets are too narrow to allow them to shoot with any kind of
accuracy.

At the time of filing, the Mujahideen was in a strong position thanks
to its decision to adopt the strategy of street fighting that allowed
for attracting the enemy into those streets and then hunting down
their advance guards.

The Mafkarat al-Islam's correspondent in Fallujah also wrote that
media reports about a major American breakthrough in Fallujah and that
the Americans control 90 percent of the city are false. The US
penetration into the city has been the result of Mujahideen efforts to
draw the enemy in. The effect has been that heavy losses have been
inflicted on the Americans.

As to claims by some Arab media that US forces are now stationed
inside the city, the correspondent noted that the only American
contingent is located inside the city has been encircled by Mujahideen
forces since before yesterday. It is able to remain there without
being destroyed by virtue of the covering fire provided by American
snipers posted on buildings in the area. The American unit has until
the time of writing been unable to extract itself from its besieged
position.

US forces are trying to break the encirclement of an American column
on al-Hadrah al-Muhammadiyah street in the neighborhoods of
ash-Shurtah and ad-Dubbat. But the American column is well encircled
on all sides. On Thursday, the Mujahideen encircled and destroyed a
whole American column in the al-Jaghifi neighborhood.

Fighting in Fallujah at the time of this filing is going on in two
places: al-Hadrah al-Muhammadiyah and the north of the al-Jawlan
neighborhood on as-Sirdar Street. Ten US troops were killed at 6pm
Friday when Iraqi resistance forces attacked and destroyed two US
Humvees in the area between Fallujah and al-'Amiriyah.

Mujahideen Appoint General Commander Of Operations, Spokesman

The Iraqi Mujahideen forces in Fallujah on Thursday appointed one of
their members as General Commander of all resistance formations in the
city. There are more than eight Mujahideen organizations operating in
the city. The groups has come together and united for the first time
since the fall of Baghdad under the leadership of one of their men who
has considerable experience in urban warfare.

In addition, an official spokesman has been appointed, making the
Mujahideen more organized. This new unity has encouraged the Fallujah
Mujahideen to achieve the grand results that they achieved on
Thursday. Since the unification, the Mujahideen in the city has made
big advances in coordinating their activities and attacks using
pre-planned and well-thought out military tactics.

As a result, the US forces are now fighting a war of attrition. For
the third straight day American forces have been drawn into the city
allowing the Mujahideen to inflict heavy damage on the enemy.

Mujahideen Down Black Hawk

Iraqi Mujahideen forces in Fallujah shot down a US Black Hawk
helicopter with a Strela missile on Friday. The helicopter was keeping
fighters "busy" to facilitate the escape of several American tanks
from a tight spot. But the Mujahideen attacked the helicopter with a
Strela rocket, shooting it down and killing the four crewmen aboard -
two machine gunners on the sides of the craft and the pilot and
co-pilot.

US forces, meanwhile, bombarded the al-'Amiriyah neighborhood south of
Fallujah at about 8pm Friday night, destroying two houses and killing
five families and wounding other people inside. Two women and an
11-year-old little girl are among the dead.

Mafkarat Al-Islam's Correspondent In Fallujah Hit By Enemy Fire

Late word in at presstime is that Mafkarat al-Islam's correspondent in
Fallujah has been hit by enemy fire. He was stuck by four bullets
Friday night after the al-'Isha' nighttime prayers as he was covering
the battle in the al-Jawlan neighborhood. Of the four bullets, three
of them penetrating his body. Two struck him in the shoulder and one
in the waist. The fourth bullet lodged in his thigh. His condition is
serious, but stable.

The correspondent has been unable to find proper medical care due to
the shortage of doctors in the city, after US forces attacked all the
hospitals there. Mafkarat al-Islam has been covering Fallujah using
two correspondents inside the city and one in the area outside.

There were also unconfirmed reports that a correspondent for
al-Jazeera satellite TV named Husayn had also been wounded in Fallujah
but no details were initially available. (JUS)