They Came Here To Die

Terrorists continue to try and make a last stand against US forces along the Syrian border. They are fighting to the last man, because that's all that they have left. They have no choice. Giving up is not an option because it would betray all that the terrorists claim that they stand for. Of course, these are battle hardened terrorists who have fled from elsewhere in the country to make a last stand, plus reinforcements that appear to have come in from Syria.

In fact, there are reports that some of the individuals that the US is fighting in this region have uniforms and sophisticated arms, which would mean that the US might be engaging the Syrians.

According to Hurley and others who recounted the fighting that followed, Lima Company's Marines searched each house they passed. They turned up weapons cache after weapons cache: bombs made to be dropped from airplanes, a bicycle with a seat made of explosives and an antenna for remote-control triggering, a vest rigged with explosives, a car rigged with bombs, mortar tubes, rocket launchers with new backpacks full of rockets, artillery shells.

The costly equipment, as well as body armor later recovered from the bodies of dead insurgents, suggested that the fighters were foreigners, the military said. Though the level of foreigners' involvement in the insurgency has been disputed for nearly two years, Muslim men have come to Iraq from neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and from as far away as Chechnya and Indonesia to fight the United States and its allies.

The Marines also found Soviet-designed PKM machine guns and belts of armor-piercing ammunition. In contrast, Lima Company was armed with M-16 assault rifles and carried nothing comparable -- nothing that could penetrate walls and floors and still pack enough force to kill.

Captain Ed seems to think that al Qaeda has no choice but to engage in the fight in Iraq. It's a reasonable conclusion when you look at the 2+ years of rhetoric that al Qaeda has foisted on the world, talking about its struggle to topple the US and an al Qaeda loss in Iraq would mean a loss of credibility. Indeed, after the 9/11 attacks, the terrorist group has been on the defensive far more than conducting attacks on its own timetable.

Mrs. Greyhawk's Dawn Patrol roundup of news concurs with other reports that the US is up against a contingent of foreign fighters along the Syrian border. While the fighting was stiff over the last few days, it would appear to be waning as of today.

The fighting along the border area raises several questions that still demand answers:

1) Who are these terrorists and insurgents?
2) Where are these foreign fighters coming from?
3) Are the foreign fighters actually coming from Syria and are they receiving Syrian aid to attack US and Iraqi forces to destabilize the region?
4) If the fighters are indeed Syrian soldiers, is this part of the official Syrian government strategy or some rogue soldiers intent on causing mayhem. Considering that Bashar hasn't had the tight grip that his dad did on the government, it is possible that hardliners in the government may be acting on their own. In any case, if Syria's government is behind the foreign fighters, the US could make the case for attacking Syria directly.

UPDATE 10:51AM EDT 5/11/2005:
Chester is liveblogging Operation Matador, which is the continuing battle along the Syrian border.