United States forces advanced to within 30 kilometres of Baghdad last night after ”destroying” at least one division of Iraqi Republican Guard troops and crippling another, senior military commanders said.
US columns converged on the Iraqi capital in a two-pronged assault, with marines crossing the Tigris river at Kut and infantry passing Kerbala, as coalition bombers kept up a fearsome bombardment of the Republican Guard divisions defending the approaches to the city.
”The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the regime,” Brigadier General Vince Brooks declared at the central command headquarters in Qatar.
Despite the apparent splintering of Baghdad’s outer ring of defences, coalition military officials warned that the Iraqi regime still had four more Republican Guard divisions to draw on, and that the hardest battle, in the streets of the city itself, was yet to come.
The advancing US troops moving on Baghdad will try to avoid a pitched battle with the four remaining Republican Guard units believed to be relatively intact, relying on air power to keep them pinned down and under pressure while the Americans manoeuvre swiftly around them, military sources said yesterday.
”This is going to be very manoeuvreistic. It is not going to be attritional. It is a tactical battle now,” one senior military source said.
The US troops will be backed by heavy artillery, tanks and dozens of Apache and Cobra attack helicopters.
”It is going to be an all-arms battle,” the source said. ”They want to push through as quickly as they can. Tactically and strategically there will be overwhelming firepower.”
At the Pentagon, Major General Stanley McChrystal said that the advance was likely to halt before entering Baghdad.
”We are planning for a very difficult fight ahead. We’re not expecting to drive into Baghdad and take it in a coup de main [surprise attack bypassing the defenders] or something like that,” he said.
Yesterday, 50 RAF warplanes were in the air above Baghdad supporting the attack, as 200 US attack helicopters flew raids over the Iraqi positions.
Once the US force arrives on the outskirts of the city its commanders hope the vast military presence so close to the heart of the regime may put enough pressure on them to surrender. ”A lot will depend on how the Iraqis respond to the attack,” the source said. ”We are exploiting the weaknesses of the battlefield. There are plans for all eventualities.”
Surprise plans may include the use of airborne troops now that several airfields have been secured in western Iraq. At least 1,000 American paratroopers have been flown into the Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Other airborne troops appear to have been held largely in reserve so far, including the 82nd Airborne and the British Parachute Regiment.
Inside Baghdad, there were reports of preparations for sustained street fighting. Residents of western districts have been moved from their homes and replaced by Iraqi paramilitaries.
At least 50 trenches filled with oil have now been set alight across the capital in an attempt to deter the air campaign. Military satellite photographs showed vast lines of trenches like scars across the city. But military sources in Qatar said they were no more than an ”irritant” to pilots and would not affect satellite-guided munitions.
There will be further potential hurdles in the way of the advancing troops. Having penetrated the 80 kilometre ”red zone” around Baghdad, in which US military officials predicted Saddam Hussein might opt to use chemical or biological weapons, advancing forces were told yesterday to don chemical protection suits.
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force crossed the Tigris yesterday at the town of Kut, reporting only occasional fire from the Baghdad infantry division of the Republican Guard, which had suffered days of intense bombardment, including two massive 15 000lb ”daisy-cutter” fuel-air bombs.
Gen Brooks said the Baghdad division, which originally had up to 12 000 troops, had been ”destroyed”.
”It is no longer effective at conducting combat operations as a cohesive force,” he said. ”It may mean we have killed or captured a considerable number of the force to make that possible.”
At the same time, the US 3rd Infantry Division advanced through the ”Kerbala gap”, between Lake Razzaza and the Euphrates river, and turned north towards Baghdad’s outskirts. The Medina armoured division, supposedly the Republican Guard’s best, did little to block its advance. Gen McChrystal said that if the Medina had not been destroyed, they are very near that point.
However, a Pentagon official said there were still four more Republican Guard divisions, including the Nebuchadnezzar, parts of which are thought to be still standing between the 3rd Infantry Division and Baghdad, despite suffering heavy air strikes.
The remaining Republican Guard units around Baghdad have been subjected to an intense aerial bombardment for at least a week. ”They are in trouble. They are under serious attack right now and those attacks will continue until we finish with the task at hand,” Gen Brooks said.
A senior Pentagon official said: ”We are going to exercise tactical patience. We are not going to go straight in, but we are going to find out where his command and control is, where his Special Republican Guard concentrations are, and we are going to hit those.”
He likened the siege of Baghdad to the situation around Basra, where UK troops have sat on the outskirts, striking at ”targets of opportunity” while attempting to provide humanitarian assistance. – Guardian Unlimited Â