Dozens of insurgents were killed Saturday on the first day of Operation Steel Curtain, a U.S.-Iraqi military offensive near the Syrian border, military officials said. Marine company commander Capt. Conlon Carabine described the day as one long firefight full of sniper and machine gun fire. "With the exception of 30 minutes, it's been shooting or getting shot at all day," Carabine said. At least three Marines received minor wounds in the fighting, said U.S. military officials in Husayba, where much of the operation is centered. The offensive "marks the first large-scale employment of multiple battalion-sized units of Iraqi Army forces in combined operations with coalition forces" in Anbar province during the past year, the military said in a news release. The operation comes in the largely Sunni Muslim region in advance of Iraq's parliamentary election, set for December 15. --MORE 1221 Local Time 0921 GMT
