U.S. Warplanes Back Unprecedented Sunni-Led Offensive

Fierce Fighting in Growing Rift Between Zarqawi Insurgents and Sunni Arab Tribes

By Ellen Knickmeyer and Omar Fekeiki
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; 11:45 AM

RAMADI, Iraq, Aug. 30 -- U.S. warplanes backed Sunni Arab tribal fighters on Tuesday in what tribal leaders called an unprecedented Sunni-led offensive to drive out Abu Musab Zarqawi's forces.

Three days of ongoing fighting in towns near the Syrian border killed at least 61 people, at least 56 of them Tuesday, said Dr. Ali Rawi, emergency-room director at the hospital in the largest city near the fighting, Qaim, about 200 miles northwest of Baghdad.