BAQOUBA, Iraq - The government offices in Iraq’s Diyala province are encased in thick blast walls, a shield against suicide bombings. Nearby buildings are pockmarked from fighting between U.S. troops and Sunni insurgents.

Diyala has proven one of the toughest pieces of Iraqi real estate to control despite several major U.S. and Iraqi military operations.

The stakes are high. The corridor between the provincial capital of Baqouba and Baghdad, 35 miles to the southwest, has been a key conduit for the trafficking of weapons and foreign fighters into the Iraqi capital.

Diyala’s proximity to Iran also makes it a strategically important to the United States, which accuses Tehran of supporting Shiite militias.

But signs of stability are emerging in Baqouba and surrounding areas as a new U.S.-backed Iraqi offensive enters its second month. The unanswered question is whether the latest attempt to pacify Diyala will succeed where others faltered.

The U.S. military has pinned its hopes on improved Iraqi security forces, with the government sending thousands of additional troops to the province for the new push.

“The Iraqi surge is the major differentiator with previous operations,” Michael Knights, a military and security analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in a telephone interview.

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written by Andrew