List of main military operations

The Battle of Umm Qasr was the first military confrontation in the Iraq War. At the start of the Second Gulf War, one of the first objectives was the port of Umm Qasr. On March 21, 2003, Allied forces advanced across Southern Iraq and US marines captured the new port part of Umm Qasr, spending several more days in fighting through the old town part of Umm Qasr encountering fierce resistance.

The assault on the town's port was spearheaded by the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Polish GROM troops, but Iraqi forces put up unexpectedly strong resistance, requiring several days' fighting before the area was cleared of defenders. After the waterway was de-mined by Naval Special Clearance Team ONE of the U.S. Navy and reopened, Umm Qasr played an important role in the shipment of humanitarian supplies to Iraqi civilians.

The port was declared safe and open on March 25th 2003, after Royal Marines took over control of the port and conducted raids into the old part of town.

Coalition minesweepers, including HMS Bangor aided by divers and US Navy trained dolphins and seals located and cleared the approach to the port of mines allowing RFA Sir Galahad to dock after a couple of days.

The Battle of Nasiriyah occurred during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Heavy fighting took place between Iraqi forces and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade under the call sign Task Force Tarawa of the United States Marine Corps between about March 23 and March 29 2003. During the fighting 18 Marines and 11 soldiers were killed and about 50 were wounded, while the Iraqi resistance was crushed fairly rapidly thereafter.

The 2003 Battle of Baghdad was a military invasion that took place in early April 2003, as part of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Invasion was led by United States Army and Marine forces, supported by M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and M113 tracked armored fighting vehicles. The invasion of the city commenced three days after Allied forces had secured the Baghdad airport.

US officials said that their forces fought skirmishes there with Iraq's Special Republican Guard, with two task forces going up to the Tigris river from the southern outskirts of the city before moving west towards the airport. Major General Victor Renuart said the intention was to indicate to the Iraqi leader that coalition forces could move in and out of Baghdad whenever they wished. The Guardian reported that US forces occupied two "presidential palaces". The Army also surrounded the Information Ministry and other key government installations for a while.

On April 4, American troops seized the city's airport on the southwestern edge of the city. The day after, the US sent limited tank raids into the heart of Baghdad. Here American soldiers battled Iraqi forces in heavy street fights. On April 7, US troops took control of a major presidential palace along the Tigris river. American commanders on the ground said that they would remain in the city center rather than retreat to the outskirts as they had done previously.

Iraq, which had no free press, initially issued a statement contradicting Western reporters' accounts of the invasion. Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, head of the Information Ministry, told a press conference on April 7 that there were no US troops in Baghdad, saying: "Their infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad. Be assured, Baghdad is safe, protected. Iraqis are heroes."

[4] Western news media reported the denial as straight news, while continuing to report Allied military activity within Baghdad, such as the capture of two of Saddam's presidential palaces. The denials tapered off after US military forces surrounded the Information Ministry. For more information on the evacuation and disbandment of the Iraqi Government see Saddam Hussein.

As the American forces secured control of the capital, Iraqi civilians immediately began looting the palaces, as well as government offices. Before a conglomerate of international press (and small crowd of around 100 U.S.-supported Iraqi militia), a 20-foot tall statue of Saddam in Firdus Square was toppled by an American armoured recovery vehicle. Initially, a soldier placed a United States flag on the statue's head, though it was replaced with an Iraq flag. Various other symbols of the president's personality cult were defaced. The event was heavily criticized as having been staged, and images of the celebrating Iraqis during the toppling were found to have been doctored to make the crowd appear larger than it actually was.

As the US forces were occupying the Republican Palace and other central landmarks and ministries on April 9, Saddam Hussein had emerged from his command bunker beneath the Al A'Zamiyah district of northern Baghdad, and greeted excited members of the local public. This impromptu walkabout was probably his last and his reasons for doing so are still unclear. It is possible that he wished to take what he thought might be his last opportunity to greet his people as their president. The walkabout was captured on film and broadcast several days after the event on Al-Arabia Television and was also witnessed by ordinary people who corroborated the date afterwards. He was accompanied by bodyguards and other loyal supporters including at least one of his sons and his personal secretary. After the walkabout Hussein returned to his bunker and made preparations for his family.

The Americans had meanwhile started receiving rumours that Saddam was in Al A'Zamiyah and at dawn on April 10th, they dispatched three companies of US Marines to capture him. US Marines fought a fierce four-hour battle at a Baghdad mosque where senior Iraqi leaders had been thought to be hold up, as US warplanes attacked areas of the city under the control of Arab fighters. "We had information that a group of regime leadership was attempting to organize...a meeting. The fighting in and around the mosque complex could not be avoided as enemy forces were firing from the area of the mosque." said Captain Frank Thorp. Marines came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and Kalashnikov assault rifles. One American Marine was killed and more than 20 were wounded, but Saddam nor any of his aids were found. Non-Iraqi Arab volunteer fighters were in control of several streets in the Aadhamiya district, where the mosque is located, and also in the nearby Waziriya district. Arab fighters were also out in force on the streets of the Mansur district west of the Tigris river, close to the Iraqi intelligence service headquarters. US planes swooped overhead, hitting targets in areas under Arab control. In the northeast of the capital, US marines swept through the Saddam City district in the early hours, blasting forces still loyal to Saddam with heavy artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire. Planes buzzed the area in support of the marine units and soldiers reported seeing Iraqi anti-aircraft fire arching up into the night sky against the noisy but invisible aircraft. The area around Saddam City, home to about two million impoverished Shi'ite Muslims, was the marines' final objective on the eastern flank of the city center.

By late afternoon on April 12 the last shots were fired in resistance to the Americans in Baghdad. One American soldier was killed on the last day of fighting. The battle for Baghdad was over.

In subsequent days, looting and unrest became a serious issue. Iraqis totally plundered the majority of government and public buildings, to the point of there being nothing of any value left. At the important Yarmuk Hospital, not only all beds, but absolutely all its medical equipment, both large and small, was stolen. One other hospital managed to keep on functioning in a manner by organizing local civilians as armed guards.

At the National Museum of Iraq, which had been a virtual repository of treasures from the ancient Mesopotamian cultures as well as early Islamic culture, many of the 170,000 irreplaceable artifacts were either stolen or broken (partially found safe and well later). On April 14, Iraq's National Library and National Archives were burned down, destroying thousands of manuscripts from civilizations dating back as far as 7,000 years.

The damage to the Iraqi civilian infrastructure, economy and cultural inheritance from looting and arson may have been higher than those from three weeks of US bombing. The bombing had been focused on government targets, though civilian areas, such as markets, were destroyed as well.

Operation Red Dawn was a military operation conducted by the United States Armed Forces on December 13, 2003 in the small town of ad-Dawr in Iraq, near Tikrit. The operation resulted in the capture of the country's former president Saddam Hussein, and put to rest rumours of his death. The operation, and its two main objectives, were named for the 1984 film Red Dawn.

The operation was assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division, the Raider Brigade. Six hundred soldiers participated, including cavalry, engineers, artillery, air support, and special forces, under the overall command of Colonel James Hickey of the 4th Infantry Division.

Soldiers entered two sites (codenamed Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2) outside the village of ad-Dawr but failed initially to find Saddam. A subsequent cordon and search operation found the fugitive leader hiding in a so-called "spider hole" at a small mud-walled compound. He was taken into custody at 20:30 local time. He was armed with a pistol, but offered no resistance during his capture. The soldiers also found a AK-47 rifle, US$750,000 in $100 bills, Bounty chocolate bars, and a white-and-orange taxicab. Two Iraqis, believed to be Saddam's former cook Qais Namuk and his brother, were also taken into custody. Hussein was later moved to an undisclosed location as soldiers continued to search the area.

The First Battle of Fallujah, codenamed Operation Vigilant Resolve by the United States Military, was an unsuccessful attempt by US troops to capture the city of Fallujah in April 2004, as part of the occupation of Iraq.

The chief catalyst for the operation was the highly-publicized killing and mutilation of four Blackwater private military contractors, and the killing of 5 U.S. soldiers in Habbaniya a few days earlier.

The Battle of Ramadi was fought in the spring of 2004 during the same time as the First Battle of Fallujah. In April of 2004, Fallujah was under siege by United States Marines and insurgents were looking to relieve pressure on the city by attempting an offensive of there own. Ramadi, the capital of Al Anbar province was seen as a center of gravity to coalition forces, and thus a prime target to attack. Insurgents cut off the highway out of Al Anbar to Baghdad and the stage was set for the battle.

The Battle of Husybah was fought in the spring of 2004 during the same time as the First Battle of Fallujah. In April of 2004, Fallujah was under siege by United States Marines and insurgents were looking to relieve pressure on the city by attempting an offensive of there own. Ten days before the highway connecting Al Anbar to Baghdad was cut and the insurgents attacked the capital of the province, Ramadi. The attack was repulsed by the Marines and the battle resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. Now the insurgents were ready for another attack, on the city of Husaybah on the Syrian border.

The Battle of Najaf was a battle that was fought between U.S. and Iraqi forces, and the Islamist Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr in the Iraqi city of Najaf in August 2004.

On July 31, 2004 the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, under the Polish-led Multi-National Division Central South (MND-CS), assumed operational control of the An Najaf and Al Qadisiyah provinces from Task Force Dragon, comprised of elements of the 1st Infantry Division. In June 2004, Task Force Dragon relieved the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment who had been extended twice in Iraq.

The MEU and the Mahdi Army first exchanged fire on August 2, when a patrol of U.S. Marines came near a maternity hospital on the outskirts of areas of the city authorized for U.S. presence under the cease-fire agreement reached in June between coalition forces and Muqtada Sadr, as brokered by the Governor of Najaf, other local civic leaders and the Bayt al-Shia (the informal counsel of senior Shia clerics). Both sides withdrew to their respective strongholds soon afterwards. Although the U.S. has released nothing connecting two, the maternity clinic was located directly across the street from the home of Muqtada al-Sadr.

The ensuing battle began on August 5, when the Mahdi Army attacked an Iraqi Police Station at 1 am. Their first attack was repelled by the Iraqis but they soon regrouped and attacked again at 3 am. Soon after, a quick reaction force from the MEU was dispatched at the request of the governor of An Najaf. Around 11 am, the QRF came under heavy machinegun and mortar fire from the Mahdi Army within the Wadi-us-Salaam, the largest cemetery in the Muslim world.

A U.S. helicopter carrying a wounded American service member was shot down by small-arms fire on the second day of the fighting. Four U.S. military personnel were killed during the heavy street battles fought between the Mahdi Army and U.S. and Iraqi forces, until the MEU momentarily withdrew on August 7.

On August 9, as the MEU and the Mahdi Army continued their battle, the U.S. added three battalions to the battle:

1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.

During the fighting half a dozen U.S. Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles were damaged or destroyed by insurgent RPG fire in the narrow streets. In the beginning most of the fighting took place in the center of the city and then moved through the cemetery.

After several days the fighting shifted again, this time to around the Imam Ali Mosque, one of the holiest sites for Muslims, particularly Shiites. All remnants of the Mahdi Army withdrew to the shrine and took refuge there. U.S. Marines from the MEU encircled the shrine and began a siege. The fighting damaged two of the minarets of the mosque in which al-Sadr's forces have taken refuge.

On August 23, at least 15 explosions, many sounding like artillery shells, rocked the area, as shrapnel fell in the courtyard of the gold-domed mosque and gunfire echoed through the alleyways. On August 26, 2004, two F-16s flying out of Balad, dropped four 2000 pound JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions) on two hotels in close proximity to the Imam Ali Shrine. Insurgents who were holed up in the second holiest shrine in the Islamic faith, would retreat to the hotels at night. The successful airstrike dealt a devastating blow to Sadr and led to a hasty settlement with Sistani as he arrived in Najaf the following morning. The fighting was eventually ended by a peace agreement; although the neighboring buildings suffered considerable damage, the mosque itself suffered only superficial damage from stray bullets and shrapnel.

The battle ended on August 27, 2004 with a ceasefire. Under the rules of the ceasefire both U.S. forces and Mahdi Army withdrew from the city. Mahdi army fighters surrendered their weapons before leaving the city and none of them were detained. After that the Iraqi police took control of the security in the city. During the battle there were also heavy street battles in Sadr City in Baghdad. A large number of insurgents who fought in the Najaf battle went to Sadr City to help the Mahdi Army in their guerrilla activities against U.S and Iraqi forces. A final agreement between the U.S. and Muqtada al-Sadr was found by the end of September and the fighting ceased in early October.

The Battle of Fallujah (code-named Operation Al-Fajr - "The Dawn" in Arabic, and Operation Phantom Fury), sometimes referred to as the Second Battle of Fallujah, was a joint U.S.-Iraqi offensive lead by the U.S. Marine Corps against the Iraqi insurgency stronghold in the city of Fallujah, authorized by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Interim Government. The U.S. military called it "the heaviest urban combat since the battle of Hue City in Vietnam."

It was the second major operation in Fallujah; in April 2004, Operation Vigilant Resolve was an abortive attempt to capture the city. That earlier operation was terminated when local leaders promised to curb the rebels.

The Battle of Al Qaim (code-named Operation Matador) was a military offensive conducted by the United States Marine Corps, against insurgent positions in Iraq's northwestern Anbar province, which ran from 8 May 2005 to 19 May 2005. It was focused on eliminating insurgents and foreign fighters in a region known as a smuggling route and a sanctuary for foreign fighters.

The Battle of Haditha was a battle fought over two days on the outskirts of the town of Haditha, Iraq, which was one of the many towns that were under insurgent control in the Euphrates River valley during 2005.

On the morning of August 01, 2005 a six-man Marine sniper unit on the outskirts of Haditha was attacked by a large insurgent force from the Islamic extremist Ansar al-Sunnah Army and in less than 10 minutes was overrun.[1] All members of the unit were killed. A few days later a video of the attack was posted on the Internet on which insurgents were seen rushing the Marines. The group’s Web site posted still photographs showing a bloody, badly wounded body wearing Marine camouflage trousers and two hooded gunmen standing in front of several rifles. The insurgents said that they slit the throats of some of the Marines. Masked gunmen had shown up in the Haditha public market that afternoon displaying helmets, flak jackets and other equipment they said was taken from the bodies of the dead Marines. The bodies of five of the Marines were found in one place and the body of the sixth was discovered later a few miles away. Two days later, the Marines started an operation, which included efforts to find the insurgents responsible for the attack on the outskirts of the town. The operation began in disaster. A Marine amphibious assault vehicle, which was transporting Marines to the initial assault, hit a huge roadside bomb. The vehicle was completely destroyed and 15 out of the 16 people that were inside it were killed, with only one Marine surviving. Among the killed was also an Iraqi civilian interpreter.

Operation Steel Curtain was a military endeavor executed by coalition forces in early November 2005 to blunt the protrusion of foreign insurgents crossing the border and joining the Iraqi insurgency. The operation was important in that it was the first large scale deployment of the New Iraqi Army. Operation Steel Curtain was a phase in the larger military offensive, Operation Hunter.

On November 5, Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines and 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines of the United States Marine Corps began their assault on insurgent-held Husaybah, and had cleared the city four days later. Then on November 10 the coalition forces began to attack the city of Karabilah and pursue any insurgents who fled Husaybah. After four more days of fighting in Karabilah, the coalition troops launched another phase of the operation into the city of Ubaydi, an insurgent haven and site of the earlier Operation Matador. The fortified city fell to coalition forces after seven days of fighting, bringing a conclusion to Operation Steel Curtain.

The Battle of Diwaniya took place on August 28, 2006 between the Mahdi Army and the Iraqi Army. The fighting erupted after coalition troops arrested a Sadr militia leader. The militia engaged in heavy street fighting with Iraqi soldiers which lasted late into the night. Militia fighters were entrenched in residential areas during the fighting. It is believed that most of the Iraqi Army casualties occurred when the soldiers ran out of ammunition. After that they were captured and executed. By next morning a ceasefire was in place with 23 Iraqi soldiers, 20 militiamen and 7 civilians killed. About a month and a half later on October 9, 2006 another battle broke out in the city, this time between the militia and the U.S. Army killing 30 militiamen and severely damaging a U.S. military tank.

The raid of the Karbala provincial headquarters was an infiltration attack carried out on 20 January 2007 by insurgent commandos, with possible Iranian involvement, on a meeting of U.S. and Iraqi officials at the governor's compound in Karbala to discuss security for the Shia ceremony of Ashoura. The assault, which left five American soldiers dead and three wounded, has been called the "boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare" and is furthermore notable for being one of the few instances when Iraqi militants have managed to capture U.S. Soldiers.

The Battle of Najaf took place on 28 January 2007 at Zarqa (alt. Zarga) near Najaf, Iraq, between Iraqi forces (later assisted by U.S. and UK forces) and either, depending on the account, fighters, initially thought to be insurgents but later reported to be members of a Shi'ite cult Soldiers of Heaven, who had joined a gathering of worshippers - or, by other accounts, a conflict, originally between an Iraqi government forces checkpoint and 200 armed pilgrims, which then expanded to include local residents, the Soldiers of Heaven group, and UK and US forces.

It occurred in the lead-up to the Day of Ashura which involves large numbers of pilgrims travelling, some to Najaf, some 1.5 million to the city of Karbala, 70 km north of Najaf, for Shiite festivals. Violent attacks have occurred in Najaf during previous Ashura festivals. Part of the plot was said to be an assassination of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistan.

Operation Law and Order (Arabic: عملية القانون والنظام "'amaliat al-qaanoon wa an-nazaam), Operation Fardh al-Qanoon or Baghdad Security Plan(BSP), is a joint Coalition-Iraqi security plan conducted throughout Baghdad. Under the Surge plan developed in late 2006, Baghdad is to be divided into nine zones, with Iraqi and American soldiers working side-by-side to clear each sector of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents and establish Joint Security Stations so that reconstruction programs can begin in safety. The U.S. military commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, has gone so far as to say Iraq will be "doomed" if this current plan fails. Numerous members of Congress have stated the plan is a critical period for the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Operation Black Eagle is an operation in which U.S. troops battled gunmen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the town of Diwaniya, Iraq for control of the city. U.S. warplanes targeted insurgent positions with Hellfire missiles in and near the city. As of April 7, 2007, Iraqi officials have verified six insurgents killed and 39 captured. On April 10, 2007, combat operations had been declared to have ended and the operation continued into the reconstruction phase. However, mid-May renewed heavy fighting erupted in the city.

Operation Phantom Thunder began on June 16, 2007, when Multi-National Force-Iraq launched major offensive operations against al-Qaeda and other extremist terrorists operating throughout Iraq. Operation Phantom Thunder is a corps level operation, including Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diyala Province, Operation Marne Torch and Operation Commando Eagle in Babil Province, Operation Fardh al-Qanoon in Baghdad, Operation Fahrad Al Amin in Anbar Province, and continuing special forces actions against the Mahdi Army in southern Iraq and against Al-Qaeda leadership throughout the country. The operation is one of the biggest military operations in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

The Battle of Baqubah (code-named Operation Arrowhead Ripper) began on June 18, 2007, when Task Force Lightning commenced 'a large-scale effort to eliminate al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq operating in Baqubah and its surrounding areas.'

The name Arrowhead Ripper references the nickname "Arrowhead," given to the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, which spearheaded the offensive, and Operation Ripper, a major offensive from the Korean War that involved both the 25th Infantry Division and the 2nd Infantry Division and resulted in the liberation of Seoul from Communist forces.