Strike of the Sword! - U.S. Marines launch major Afghan assault

Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, which is part of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, clean their weapons Monday, while they prepare for operations in Helmand province, in southern Afghanistan.

Thousands of helicopter-borne Marines launched a massive assault early Thursday morning in southern Afghanistan's Helmand River valley, a Taliban stronghold and the main source of its cash crop, the poppies that produce heroin.

About 4,000 troops of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade swept in during the pre-dawn hours to capture strategic points along the valley in an offensive dubbed Operation Khanjar (Strike of the Sword).