Battle of Najaf (2007) | |||||||
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Part of the Iraq War, Iraqi insurgency | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() | Soldiers of Heaven, possibly Iraqi tribesmen | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() | Dia Abdul-Zahra † [1] | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
800 | 1,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
![]() ![]() 1 AH-64 shot down | 263 killed, 407 captured (actual count by US Forces conducting detainee operations post battle) |
The Battle of Najaf took place on 28 January 2007 at Zarqa (also spelled Zarga) near Najaf, Iraq, between Iraqi Security Forces (later assisted by U.S. and UK forces) and fighters, initially thought to be Sunni insurgents but later reported to be members of the Shia Islam 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 U.S. forces. Reportedly, over 250 cult members and 11-25 members of the Iraqi security forces, and two U.S. soldiers were killed.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(September 2020) |
In the lead-up to the Day of Ashura, which involves large numbers of pilgrims travelling, some to Najaf, for Shiite festivals, the Iraqi officials claimed [2] to have discovered a plot by "a heavily armed cult" [2] to assassinate the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other Shia religious leaders. [2] Alleged plans called for the insurgents to disguise themselves as pilgrims and suddenly open fire, in attempts to assassinate as many leading Shiite clerics as possible [2] and cause overall disruption of the holiday.[ citation needed ] Violent attacks have occurred in Najaf during previous Ashura festivals (see Ashura massacre).
The initial raid by the Iraqi security forces against suspected insurgent hideout turned into heavy fighting, with the Iraqi Army almost being overwhelmed. The government forces began to retreat but were soon surrounded and pinned down. During the hours-long battle, rebel fighters captured one wounded Iraqi soldier; they treated him at the compound and sent him back to his comrades with a message saying "the imam is coming back." The fighting became so intense that support from U.S. and British attack helicopters and F-16 fighter jets [3] were called in. The airstrikes carried out by Special Forces operators partnered with the Iraqi Army helped break the stalemate, but not before one American AH-64 attack helicopter was shot down, killing two U.S. soldiers. [4] [5] Military Transition Team (MiTT) 0810 partnered with the Iraqi Army was first to respond to the Apache helicopter crash as the Soldiers of Heaven cult was attempting to seize the crash site.[ citation needed ] Once the crash site was secured by U.S. forces and the enemy disposition was ascertained, further support was requested.[ citation needed ] The Iraqi Army was still unable to advance, and they called for support from an Iraqi SWAT team in Hillah and U.S. motorised infantry troops. Around 1:00PM, elements of the Charlie Company 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, part of 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division were dispatched from near Baghdad. [6]
Some of the gunmen managed to break out toward Karbala. On 1 February, the city of Najaf was cordoned off, and subsequently Iraqi Government and U.S. forces appeared to be involved in heavy fighting, including helicopter gunship support.[ citation needed ] The opposing forces seem to be militants inside the city limits.[ citation needed ] This seemingly contradicted initial assessment that the hostile group was effectively destroyed after the battle of 28 January, but independently verified information was not available at the time.
Another account of the incident was presented in the newspaper articles by Patrick Cockburn, [7] Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily. [8] According to their version of events, at around 6:00AM, Hajj Sa'ad Sa'ad Nayif al-Hatemi, chief of the Hawatim Shia tribe, led a group of armed pilgrims from that tribe to a security checkpoint. Security forces killed al-Hatemi, his wife, and his driver. The pilgrims, who had walked alongside the car to the checkpoint, then attacked the security forces in retaliation. A local tribe, the Khaza'il, tried to stop the fighting but were shot at in the crossfire. Iraqi troops at the checkpoint reported al-Qaeda forces were attacking and more security forces arrived in response, surrounding the Hawatim. The Hawatim tried unsuccessfully to stop the fighting at this stage. Firing continued and a U.S. helicopter was shot down. U.S. aircraft bombarded the area until early the next morning. 120 Hawatim and local residents were killed. The group led by Ahmad al-Hassani was based in the local area of the fighting and was drawn into it. They, the Hawatim and the Khaza'il, are opposed to groups that make "the core of the Baghdad government". The presence of Ahmad al-Hassani's group provided justification for a massacre of opponents to important groups in the Iraqi government.
A radical Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Mahmud al-Hasani al-Sarkhi, was reported on 6 February 2007, to be calling for an independent inquiry into what "many in Iraq now regard as a 'massacre' in which scores of women and children were killed." The Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, accused the government of concealing the truth about the event. [9]
According to an article by Jean-Pierre Filiu, substantial numbers of women and children were killed, as they lived with the fighters in Zarga (not Najaf as reported by the government) and everyone in the camp was killed in the fighting. This contradicts the official tally of casualties as "263 terrorists killed". [10] The LA Times reported, "More than 36 hours after the initial assault, estimates by Iraqi officials on the number of dead fighters varied from 150 to 400." [11]
At least six Iraqi policemen, five Iraqi soldiers, and two American soldiers died as a result of the conflict. Another 15 policemen and 15 soldiers were wounded; among them was Najaf's police chief. Another Iraqi military official put the death toll for Iraqi security forces at 25. [12] U.S. and Iraqi troops killed 400 and captured 406 rebels in the fierce fighting around the city. [13] The majority of the fighters were Iraqi, but Brigadier General Fadhil Barwari stated that the group included 30 Afghans and Saudis and one Sudanese fighter. Shi'ite political sources said the gunmen appeared to be both Sunnis and Shi'ites loyal to a heretical cleric called Ahmed Ismail Katte, [14] and linked to the militant group Ansar al-Sunna. [15] The Iraqi army said it captured some 500 automatic rifles in addition to mortars, at least 40 machine guns, and even some Russian-made Katyusha rockets and anti-aircraft missiles.
Information recovered from dead and captured fighters indicate they belonged to a renegade Shi'ite group which called themselves the Soldiers of Heaven (Jund al-Samaa) and have been described as an apocalyptic religious cult. [3] The cult leader, Ahmed Ismail Katte, who claimed to be the Mahdi, a messiah – in Shia Islam. [16] Iraqi officials said that the militant leader, Ahmed Ismail Katte, was a Sunni from a Sunni stronghold of Zubayr near Basra in the south. He represented himself as Ahmed Hassan al-Yamani (a Shia name) to win over support for his cause. He was identified as a deputy to the cult leader Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim, who was believed to be a former security officer from the old regime. Their actual names and identities were also questioned. [1] Another report (Associated Press) said Maj. Gen. Othman al-Ghanemi, "the Iraqi commander in charge of the Najaf region" claimed cult leader Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim "died in the battle". [2]
The U.S. military has referred to them only as gunmen, not insurgents or terrorists. Dia Abdul-Zahra was killed in the fighting while the whereabouts of Ahmed Hassani al-Yamani were not known.
The Iraqi authorities may also have exaggerated their own military success. The signs are that they underestimated the strength of the Soldiers of Heaven and had to call for urgent American air support. [17] One U.S. adviser to Iraqi security forces cautioned against exaggerated casualty reports from the Iraqi government, saying, "There are rumors everywhere, the whole situation is so bizarre."[ citation needed ] The adviser also questioned how the Soldiers of Heaven force had grown and remained undetected until this conflict. Iraqi officials say the group's stronghold included tunnels, trenches and blockades. The same location was also reported to include a swimming pool, air conditioned beauty salon, car-bomb making workshop and a car dismantling workshop and was described as a "compound". [18] A neighbor said the residents had a history of "criminal activity, including car theft."
After the battle, Iraqi police rounded up hundreds of sect members and put them on trial. On 2 September 2007, the criminal court passed judgement on 458 accused. Ten leaders of the Soldiers of Heaven were sentenced to death, 54 members were released, and the rest were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 15 years to life, Najaf police chief Brigadier General Abdel Karim Mustapha said. [19]
The Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) was characterized by a large United States military deployment on Iraqi territory, beginning with the US-led invasion of the country in March 2003 which overthrew the Ba'ath Party government of Saddam Hussein and ending with the departure of US troops from the country in 2011. Troops for the occupation came primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, but 29 other nations also provided troops, and there were varying levels of assistance from Japan and other countries, as well as tens of thousands of private military company personnel.
The following is a timeline of major events during the Iraq War, following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The Mahdi Army was an Iraqi Shia militia created by Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008.
An Iraqi insurgency began shortly after the 2003 American invasion deposed longtime leader Saddam Hussein. It is considered to have lasted until the end of the Iraq War and U.S. withdrawal in 2011. It was followed by a renewed insurgency.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq was completed and the regime of Saddam Hussein was toppled in May 2003, an Iraqi insurgency began that would last until the United States left in 2011. The 2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency lasted until early 2006, when it escalated from an insurgency to a Sunni-Shia civil war, which became the most violent phase of the Iraq War.
The Battle of Najaf was fought between United States and Iraqi forces on one side and the Mahdi Army led by Muqtada al-Sadr on the other in the Iraqi city of Najaf in August 2004.
The 2004 Iraq spring fighting was a series of operational offensives and various major engagements during the Iraq War. It was a turning point in the war; the Spring Fighting marked the entrance into the conflict of militias and religiously based militant Iraqi groups, such as the Shi'a Mahdi Army.
The Karbala provincial headquarters raid was a special operation carried out on January 20, 2007, by the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq against the U.S. contingent of the Joint Security Station, located within the Iraqi Police headquarters. The assault, which left five U.S. 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 any sort of militants or insurgents have actually managed to capture U.S. soldiers since the Vietnam War.
The Soldiers of Heaven were an armed Iraqi Shi'a messianic militant group known for fighting in the Battle of Najaf in January 2007 against government forces and American and British occupying forces. Led by Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim, who was killed in the battle, the Soldiers of Heaven were accused of trying to start a "messianic insurrection" at the holy city of Najaf during the festival of Ashura.
Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim, also known as al-Ali bin Ali bin Abi Talib, was an Iraqi militant who was the leader of an armed extremist Shia Islamist cult named Soldiers of Heaven based in Iraq. He claimed to be the Hidden Imam and Mahdi.
The 2008 Iraqi Day of Ashura fighting was a series of clashes that occurred on the Islamic holy day of Ashura on January 18, 2008 and the next day in the Iraqi cities of Basra and Nasiriyah. The battles were fought between the Iraqi security forces and fighters of an Iraqi cult called the Soldiers of Heaven, which a year before fought a similar battle, also on Ashura, near the city of Najaf. Then their leader was reported killed along with his deputy Ahmed Hassani al-Yemeni but this time around it was reported that al-Yemeni was still alive and leading the cultists.
The 2008 Iraq spring fighting was a series of clashes between the Mahdi Army and allies and the Iraqi Army supported by coalition forces, in southern Iraq and parts of Baghdad, that began with an Iraqi offensive in Basra.
The siege of Sadr City was a blockade of the Shi'a district of northeastern Baghdad carried out by US and Iraqi government forces in an attempt to destroy the main power base of the insurgent Mahdi Army in Baghdad. The siege began on 4 April 2004 – later dubbed "Black Sunday" – with an uprising against the Coalition Provisional Authority following the government banning of a newspaper published by Muqtada Al-Sadr's Sadrist Movement. The most intense periods of fighting in Sadr City occurred during the first uprising in April 2004, the second in August the same year, during the sectarian conflict that gripped Baghdad in late 2006, during the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, and during the spring fighting of 2008.
The Northern Iraq offensive began on 4 June 2014, when the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, assisted by various insurgent groups in the region, began a major offensive from its territory in Syria into Iraq against Iraqi and Kurdish forces, following earlier clashes that had begun in December 2013 involving guerillas.
The First Battle of Tikrit was fought for the Iraqi city of Tikrit following the city's capture by the Islamic State and Ba'athist Loyalists during the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive. The battle took place between 26 and 30 June 2014.
Liberation of Jurf Al Sakhar, codenamed Operation Ashura, was a two-day military operation by Iraqi government forces and Iranian-backed PMU forces beginning on 24 October 2014, aimed at retaking the strategic city of Jurf Al Sakhar near Baghdad from ISIL. The operation was mainly aimed at preventing ISIS militants from reaching the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf, where ISIS threatened to carry out attacks against the millions of Shia visitors commemorating the Day of Ashura.
The fall of Mosul in Iraq occurred between 4 and 10 June 2014, when Islamic State (IS) insurgents, initially led by Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi, captured Mosul from the Iraqi Army, led by Lieutenant General Mahdi Al-Gharrawi.
The Second Battle of Tikrit was a battle in which Iraqi Security Forces recaptured the city of Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Iraqi forces consisted of the Iraqi Army and the Popular Mobilization Forces, receiving assistance from Iran's Quds Force officers on the ground, and air support from the American, British, and French air forces.
The Timeline of the War in Iraq covers the War in Iraq, a war which erupted that lasted in Iraq from 2013 to 2017, during the first year of armed conflict.
The Islamic State insurgency in Iraq is an ongoing low-intensity insurgency that began in 2017 after the Islamic State (IS) lost its territorial control in the War in Iraq, during which IS and allied White Flags fought the Iraqi military and allied paramilitary forces.