BAGHDAD, Nov. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- About 3,500 US and Iraqi soldiers launched Saturday morning a new major offensive to restore security and eradicate al-Qaida fighters in western Iraq, the US military said.

    "Approximately 2,500 marines, sailors and soldiers with Regimental Combat Team-2 and 1,000 Iraqi army soldiers began Operation Steel Curtain in western Al Anbar on Nov. 5," the military said in a statement.

    The offensive's goal is to "restore security along the Iraqi-Syrian border and destroy the al-Qaida in Iraq terror network"operating throughout Husaybah town, the statement added.

    It said that al-Qaida network has used the region's long borders with Syria to smuggle foreign fighters, money and equipment into the country to be used in their ongoing insurgency.

    The offensive is part of Operation Sayaid (Hunter) designed to deny al-Qaida in Iraq the ability to operate in the Euphrates River Valley and to establish a joint permanent security presence along the Syrian border, according to the statement.

    The Steel Curtain follows several earlier operations launched by the US and Iraqi forces in the restive western Sunni Arab province of Al-Anbar during the past few months in an attempt to curb violence activities.

    The vast desert area west of Baghdad has been a bastion of insurgency against US and Iraqi forces. Enditem