This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2019) |
Operation Matador (Iraq) | |||||||
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Part of the Iraq War | |||||||
A large weapons cache in New Ubaydi is destroyed | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Al-Qaeda in Iraq [1] Others | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Col. S.W. Davis[ citation needed ] | Sulaiman Khalid Darwaish[ citation needed ] | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1,000 troops | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
9 killed 40 wounded [2] | 125+ killed |
The Battle of Al-Qa'im (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. [3]
In mid-May 2005, Task Force 3/2 and elements of Task Force 3/25 (3rd Battalion/2nd Marines, 3rd Battalion/25th Marines, 4th Assault Amphibian Bn, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Bn Bravo Company, B Co 4th Combat Engineer Bn, 2nd Platoon A Co 1st Tank Bn, and a detachment of H-1's from HMLA 269 ) supported by the 163rd Ordnance, conducted a sweep of an insurgent-held area near the Syrian border. Combat Engineers from 4th CEB breached the river banks followed by 814th Engineer Company (MRB) who built a floating bridge while conducting concurrent rafting. It lasted eleven days, during which the U.S. troops killed more than 125 suspected insurgents and captured 39 others. The Marines captured and destroyed many weapon caches and suffered 9 killed in action and 40 wounded in action. Notable among these casualties was a squad from 1st Platoon, Lima Company 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines which had all of its members killed or wounded, mostly while embarked in an AAV that was struck by an IED. [4]
Many of the insurgents encountered were not wearing uniforms, and in some cases were wearing protective vests. Furthermore, coalition officials noted that the training, tactics and organization displayed by the insurgents battled in the Syrian desert exceeded that which had been seen in other engagements further east, with only the exception of the former members of the Fedayeen (that comprised a large portion of insurgents fought by the Coalition in Operation Vigilant Resolve.) Thus it is plausible to believe that the Fedayeen made a large portion of the insurgents fought in Matador.
Additionally, the Marines in Matador did not have sufficient numbers to set up a permanent garrison in Al-Qa'im and the other insurgent held towns and withdrew as a result. Consequently, as soon as they left guerilla fighters were back in the towns and reestablished control over the town. [5] Insurgents' continued presence in the Syrian desert meant that the Syrian border would remain a viable route for smuggling military equipment used by the insurgency. The engagement could loosely be described as a running battle, with the heaviest fighting taking place in urban environments located in Ubaydi, Arabi, and Al-Qa'im, all are cities in the insurgent dominated Al Anbar Governorate. [6] It was followed by Operation Squeeze Play.
Al Anbar Governorate, or Anbar Province, is the largest governorate in Iraq by area. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The population is mostly Sunni Muslims. The provincial capital is Ramadi; other important cities include Fallujah, Al-Qa'im and Haditha.
The Second Battle of Fallujah, initially codenamed Operation Phantom Fury,Operation al-Fajr was an American-led offensive of the Iraq War that lasted roughly six weeks, starting 7 November 2004. Marking the highest point of the conflict against the Iraqi insurgency, it was a joint military effort carried out by the United States, the Iraqi Interim Government, and the United Kingdom. Within the city of Fallujah, the coalition was led by the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army, the battle was later described as "some of the heaviest urban combat U.S. military have been involved in since the Battle of Huế City in Vietnam in 1968".
Al-Qa'im is an Iraqi border town located nearly 400 km (248 mi) northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border and situated along the Euphrates River, and located in the Al Anbar Governorate. It has a population of about 74,100 and it's the center of the Al-Qa'im District.
Operation Steel Curtain was a military operation executed by coalition forces in early November 2005 to reduce the flow 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. This offensive was part of the larger Operation Sayeed (Hunter), designed to prevent al Qaeda in Iraq from operating in the Euphrates River Valley and throughout Al Anbar and to establish a permanent Iraqi Army presence in the Al Qa’im region.
1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion is a fast and mobilized armored terrestrial reconnaissance battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Nicknamed the "Highlanders," their primary weapon system is the LAV-25 Light Armored Vehicle armed with the M242 25mm Bushmaster chain gun. They fall under the command of the 1st Marine Division and the I Marine Expeditionary Force. The unit is based out of the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.
2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion is a fast and mobilized armored terrestrial reconnaissance battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Their primary weapon system is the 8-wheeled LAV-25 and they fall under the command of the 2nd Marine Division and II Marine Expeditionary Force. The unit is based out of the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The current mission statement of the battalion is: To perform combined arms reconnaissance and security missions in support of the Ground Combat Element (GCE) of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF). Its mission is to conduct reconnaissance, security and economy of force operations, and, within its capabilities, limited offensive or defensive operations that exploit the unit's mobility and firepower.
3d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion(3D LAR BN) is a fast and mobilized armored terrestrial reconnaissance battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Their primary weapon system is the LAV-25 and they are part of the 1st Marine Division and I Marine Expeditionary Force. The unit is based out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California.
3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines (3/2) is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based in Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Comprising approximately 1000 marines and sailors and nicknamed the "Betio Bastards", they fall under the command of the 2nd Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division.
The Battle of Ramadi was fought during the Iraq War from March 2006 to November 2006, for control of the capital of the Al Anbar Governorate in western Iraq. A joint US military force under the command 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division and Iraqi Security Forces fought insurgents for control of key locations in Ramadi. Coalition strategy relied on establishing a number of patrol bases called Combat Operation Posts throughout the city.
The Battle of Haditha took place between U.S. forces and Ansar al-Sunna in early August 2005 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.
Al-Karmah, also sometimes transliterated as Karma, Karmah, or Garma, is a city in central Iraq, 16 km (10 mi) northeast of Fallujah in the province of Al Anbar.
Al Ubaidi is a town in the Al Anbar Governorate of Iraq.
The Anbar campaign consisted of fighting between the United States military, together with Iraqi security forces, and Sunni insurgents in the western Iraqi governorate of Al Anbar. The Iraq War lasted from 2003 to 2011, but the majority of the fighting and counterinsurgency campaign in Anbar took place between April 2004 and September 2007. Although the fighting initially featured heavy urban warfare primarily between insurgents and U.S. Marines, insurgents in later years focused on ambushing the American and Iraqi security forces with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), large scale attacks on combat outposts, and car bombings. Almost 9,000 Iraqis and 1,335 Americans were killed in the campaign, many in the Euphrates River Valley and the Sunni Triangle around the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.
Operation Sayeed also known as Operation Hunter in English, was a series of operations conducted in western Al Anbar Governorate by the United States Marine Corps in 2005. It was an umbrella operation, consisting of at least 11 named operations between July 2005 to December 2005. The purpose was to drive Al-Qaeda in Iraq forces from the Western Euphrates River Valley. Some parts of Operation Sayeed were Operation Steel Curtain and Operation Iron Fist.
Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Al Anbar Governorate, was under U.S. military occupation during the Iraq War. It was a focal point of Iraqi insurgency, which erupted into open armed conflict in 2004 and in 2006, part of the Iraq War in Anbar Province. Operation Murfreesboro was a U.S. offensive in February 2007 intended to cut off the Ma'Laab district of eastern Ramadi from the rest of the town in order to drive out Zarqawi's Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Operation al-Shabah was launched in May 2013 by the Iraqi Army, with the stated aim of severing contact between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the al-Nusra Front in Syria by clearing militants from the border area with Syria and Jordan.
Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was the Governor of Iraq's Al Anbar province, serving from January 2005 until his death in May 2005.
This is a timeline of events during the War in Iraq in 2016.
The 2017 Western Iraq campaign was the final major military operation of the 2013–2017 war in Iraq, in the western province of Anbar, and on the border with Syria, with the goal of completely expelling ISIL forces from their last strongholds in Iraq.
The Western Anbar offensive (2017) was a military operation by the Iraqi Army against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, in the western districts of the Province of Anbar and on the border with Syria.