U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Offensive Along Syrian Border

Because of its large Sunni population and security concerns, only two percent of Anbar's voters cast ballots in parliamentary elections in January, and about 32 percent voted in a constitutional referendum last month. More than 96 percent of the voters voted against the referendum, which was approved on the strength of overwhelming Shiite and Kurdish support elsewhere in the country.

The timing of the new offensive -- which came on the final day of Eid al-Fitr, a three-day festival that is one of the holiest holidays of Islam -- drew criticism from some politicians and ordinary Iraqis for being culturally insensitive, religiously divisive and politically counter-productive. Some said it could worsen the political gap between Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims and its minority Sunnis in the run-up to national parliamentary elections.

"We think that they are targeting us, the Sunnis, not Qaeda," Omar Obaidi, a 45-year-old government employee, said in a telephone interview as he walked out of town under a white banner with his wife and three children.

"We are in the third day of Eid. We are leaving the town not for fun but to save ourselves from death. Instead of having my family for a picnic in an amusement park, I am taking them out of the town, walking and expecting death every moment," he said. "Let Bush see how he created a generation that hates the Americans."

"It's against the rule of Islam, against the rule of religion, against the rule of any humanitarian attitude to spoil the festive day for the Iraqis in such a bloody action," said Saleh Mutlak, a hard-line Sunni politician in Iraq's parliament. "This will make the situation worse. I call on the American people to urge their government to find a civilized attitude. I don't think this fits with the reputation that the Americans have."

Military spokesman Lynch said that the new offensive was long planned and could not be derailed by Eid.

"Every planned operation, we take cultural sensitivity and things like holidays into consideration," Lynch said in an interview in his Baghdad office. "For the momentum of the operations to continue, the decision was made to conduct the operation this morning, fully conscious of the fact that there was indeed a religious holiday, but knowing that it was important to continue the momentum."

Some analysts have criticized the United States for engaging in several high-profile military offensives, only to withdraw from the areas and allow insurgents to reestablish themselves. Lynch said that was no longer the case.

"When there was a shortage of security forces, operations were conducted and people left because there weren't security forces to leave behind," he said. "But when you're in an environment like we're in now, with 211,000 trained and equipped members of the Iraqi security forces, people stay behind to maintain order and discipline. That's what happened at Tal Afar [after a recent offensive], and that's what will happen in Husaybah."

Correspondent Jonathan Finer and special correspondent Hasan Shammari in Baquba contributed to this report.