A US general called on militants in Fallujah yesterday to join a bilateral ceasefire. Insurgents struck US troops in Baghdad and central Iraq, setting a tank on fire in the capital and engaging in battles that killed 40 Iraqis, a US spokesman said.
There was no immediate response from Sunni insurgents to the general's call in Fallujah, where bloody fighting has been raging all week, and a team of Iraqi leaders from Baghdad entered the city to hold talks with local leaders. Marine commanders said they had no orders yet for a full ceasefire.
Explosions and sporadic gunfire were heard yesterday afternoon, and the Marines largely remained in the industrial zone they hold in the eastern part of the city. Some Marines moved a few blocks into a nearby neighborhood, breaking into homes, witnesses said, in an apparent attempt to clear out gunmen firing on them.
"Today what we are seeking is a bilateral ceasefire on the battlefield so we can allow for discussions," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad.
"This is an aspiration," he said. He added that he was "hoping to get this messsage to the enemy through this press conference" and the Arabic press "so they can join the ceasefire."
In Fallujah, a party of 35 Iraqi officials -- including several Governing Council members -- entered the beseiged city yesterday to hold talks with local leaders. Council members have expressed increasing anger over the US siege, calling it a "mass punishment" for its 200,000 residents.
The purpose of the talks was unclear. Kimmitt underlined that the talks were going on with city officials who "want to see Iraqi police back in the police stations, that want to see Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members walking the streets of Fallujah, that want to see the Iraqi army walking the streets of Fallujah."
A Marine commander said he had no orders yet for a full cease-fire.
"I've got no direction of any kind on a ceasefire, so I will continue to fight until I'm instructed to do differently. I don't know what the word is from Baghdad, but I've got word from my higher headquarters, and if they wanted me to hold up, they would tell me," said Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.
Despite heavy fighting since Monday morning, Marines have insisted they were winning the battle to uproot Sunni insurgents in Fallujah.
When ordered on Friday to halt all offensive operations, Marines complained that doing so would expose them to insurgent attacks. So they demanded and received the right to conduct offensive operations necessary to prevent attacks on their positions -- a more aggressive stance than merely responding to attacks, a tactic which the Marines say is useless in guerrilla-style warfare.
The Marines have been in position encircling Fallujah and in a large industrial zone inside the southeastern part of the city.
After the unilateral halt began, they did not advance into residential areas to engage gunmen there. But one Marine was killed Friday and another wounded in combat.
Also See Story:
Support for al-Sadr seen widening
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS