Operation Steel Curtain

No it is not some new HGTV show, it is the name of the military operation being conducted on the Iraq Syria border.  

Iraq has about 120 combat battalions and a total of more than 211,000 soldiers and police.

This operation marks the first large-scale employment of multiple battalion-sized units of the Iraqi army in combined operations with coalition forces in the last year.  

The operation, which began on Nov. 4, was meant to establish a permanent joint U.S.-Iraqi security presence along the 600-kilometer Syrian border.

Officials said the mission was designed to block the Al Qaida ratline from Syria via the Euphrates River valley and through Iraq.  About 2,500 U.S. forces and 1,000 Iraqis were participating in Operation Steel Curtain, centered around Husaybah in the Anbar province.

It is good to see the Iraqi peoples taking up the responsibility of their own defense.  There is still a long way to go but this is a milestone that should be recognized and applauded for their efforts.