American troops battled insurgents overnight in Samarra, a hard-line Sunni Muslim city, killing what a military official said were six attackers.

Hama is reputed to be the most conservative Sunni Muslim city in Syria since French Mandate times.

Samarra, an angry Sunni city, had slipped from American control.

Last month, the police chief in Khaldiya, a rebellious Sunni city, was assassinated.

"We know the M-14 is operating in Falluja and Ramadi," said one senior administration official, speaking about another rebellious Sunni Muslim city nearby.

Likewise, President Bush may want to reconquer every Sunni city in Iraq, but the arithmetic of our forces requires him to plan for disengagement instead.

Zgharta was linked in a large electoral district with the Sunni Muslim city of Tripoli.

Sidon is an overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim city, rather distant from Hezbollah strongholds farther south.

For example, Iraq cannot hold meaningful national elections if militants still control major Sunni cities like Falluja.

Falluja is an Sunni Muslim city, where people are acutely sensitive to the growing political power of the country's Shiite majority.