U.S. and Iraqi forces have kicked off another in the series of “disruption” operations in and around Ramadi.

The latest effort, dubbed Operation Lions, or Asad in Arabic, includes some 200 Iraqi Army soldiers and 250 U.S. soldiers attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Marine Division.

It will focus on the Tamim area south of downtown. It will include sweeps through sections of the city, which has long been an insurgent stronghold in Anbar province. The goal, military officials have said, is to “set conditions for successful elections.”

Iraqis will go to the polls on Dec. 15 to elect a government for the next four years. In each of the two previous votes — in January and in October — turnout in Ramadi has been far lower than in other areas.

Last January, fewer than 1,000 of the area’s 400,000 residents voted, in part because of security concerns, but also because Sunni religious leaders urged a boycott of the polls. Turnout was slightly better in October, but Sunnis still complain that a Shiite and Kurd majority in Iraq will craft policies widening a sectarian split.

In Ramadi, insurgents and suspected al-Qaida in Iraq operatives “have vowed to prevent the local citizens from participating in the democratic process and exercise their right to vote,” according to a Marine Corps statement on Wednesday.

Operation Lions is the latest of a series of raids that began Nov. 16, which U.S. military officials say has resulted in 32 suspected insurgents killed and four weapon caches seized. The weapons included surface-to-air missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, artillery rounds, hand grenades, land mines, small arms and small-arms ammunition. Much of the stockpile was intended for use in roadside bombs, officials said.

“The Iraqi Army has been the main effort in many of our operations. They continue to exhibit professionalism and resolve in securing their country,” Col. John L. Gronski, 2nd Brigade Combat Team commander, was quoted as saying in release.