Operation Alljah

Last updated

Operation Alljah
Part of the Iraq War (Operation Phantom Thunder)
Op alljah.jpg
An Iraqi policeman talks with two Iraqi civilians as they wait in line to receive new identification cards at a police precinct in Fallujah on 30 June 2007. As part of Operation Alljah, Marines and Iraqi Security Forces sectioned the city into precincts and set up operational stations where Iraqi civilians come in to receive identification cards, food, reimbursements and a chance to join the neighborhood watch program.
Date16 June 2007 – 14 August 2007
Location
Result Security responsibility handed over to local police
Belligerents
Flag of the United States.svg United States
Flag of Iraq.svg New Iraqi Army
Flag of The Islamic State of Iraq.jpg Islamic state of Iraq
Other Iraqi Insurgents
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the United States.svg LtCol William F. Mullen III Unknown
Strength
Unknown Unknown
Casualties and losses
Flag of the United States.svg 6 killed
Flag of Iraq.svg 20 killed
39 killed (10 bombers)

Operation Alljah was an operation launched by Coalition forces in Iraq, mainly U.S. Marines, in June 2007 to secure the neighborhoods of Fallujah. The strategy of the operation was somewhat based on a successful operation in Ramadi conducted in 2006. Insurgents in the town of Karma nearby were also targeted during the operation, which was part of the overall operation Phantom Thunder.

Contents

Strategy

The strategy for Operation Alljah is based on a successful strategy used in the city of Ramadi. Fallujah was divided up into 11 sections managed by individual units of Iraqi policemen. U.S. commanders tried to keep the Iraqis in leading roles, with coalition forces in support.

To separate the parts of the city so that each isolated section could be dealt with more easily, the coalition forces set up barriers, leaving a limited number of access points to get between the districts of the city. This was intended to make it harder for wanted people to move throughout the city, and isolate trouble areas.

Each precinct had a building set as a base of operations, where civilians can receive various services, including food and limited damage reimbursement. These buildings also serve as recruitment centers and bases of operations for the Iraqi police in those precincts. The precinct headquarters also issue ID cards, which make it less of a hassle to get through checkpoints. The ID cards also make it easier to track suspects within the city.

The Operation

In the western Al Anbar province operations attacked insurgent supply lines and weapons caches, targeting the regions of Fallujah, Karma and Tharthar. Commanders of the operation expressed belief that Fallujah would be cleared by August and that the regions of Karma and Tharthar would be cleared by July. [1]

On 17 June, a raid near Karma killed a known Libyan Al-Qaeda fighter and six of his aides and on 21 June six al-Qaeda members were killed and five were detained during early-morning raids also near Karma. Also on 23 June, a U.S. airstrike killed five suspects and destroyed their car bomb near Fallujah. Insurgents also struck back in Fallujah with two suicide bombings and an attack on an off-duty policeman that left four policemen dead on 22 June. On 29 June, U.S. forces killed a senior al-Qaeda leader east of Fallujah. Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Masri, an Egyptian, was a veteran of both battles of Fallujah. On 6 July a raid west of Fallujah resulted in the killing of an Al-Qaeda in Iraq battalion commander and two of his men and the capture of two more insurgents. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

On 14 August, Marines in Fallujah formally handed over full responsibility for the security of Fallujah to local police. The same day the overall operation Phantom Thunder ended.

Units involved

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Battle of Fallujah</span> Operation of the Iraq War

The First Battle of Fallujah, code-named Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an operation against militants in Fallujah as well as an attempt to apprehend or kill the perpetrators of the killing of four U.S. contractors in March 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency</span> Part of the Iraq War

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Battle of Fallujah</span> 2004 battle of the Iraq War

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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Ramadi (2006)</span> 2006 battle in the Iraq War

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Iraq spring fighting</span> Engagements during the Iraq War

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Baqubah</span> Battle of the Iraq War

The Battle of Baqubah II took place during the Iraq War in the capital of the Iraqi province Diyala, to the north-east of Baghdad. It began in early March 2007, when U.S. and Iraqi forces commenced preliminary operations to "establish a presence in Diyala beyond their Forward Operating Base".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Phantom Thunder</span>

Operation Phantom Thunder began on 16 June 2007, when Multi-National Force-Iraq launched major offensive operations against al-Qaeda and other extremist terrorists operating throughout Iraq. It was the largest coordinated military operation since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Operation Phantom Thunder was 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 Alljah 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 was one of the biggest military operations in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Commando Eagle</span>

Operation Commando Eagle was a 2007 military operation of the Iraq War. It began on 21 June 2007, when Iraqi and Coalition forces launched a combined ground and air assault operation against al-Qaeda and other extremist terrorists operating in the Mahmudiyah region of Babil province. The action was intended to curb terrorist activity southwest of Baghdad through a mix of helicopter assaults and Humvee-mounted movements.

The Lake Tharthar raid was an Iraqi commando raid on a Secret Army of Islam training camp at Lake Tharthar on March 23, 2005.

Operation Phantom Phoenix was a major nationwide offensive launched by the Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) on 8 January 2008 in an attempt to build on the success of the two previous corps-level operations, Operation Phantom Thunder and Operation Phantom Strike and further reduce violence and secure Iraq's population, particularly in the capital Baghdad. The offensive consisted of a number of joint Coalition and Iraqi Army operations throughout northern Iraq as well as in the southern Baghdad Belts.

The 2008 Nineveh campaign was a series of offensives and counter-attacks between insurgent and Coalition forces for control of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq in early-to-mid-2008. Some fighting also occurred in the neighboring Kirkuk Governorate.

The 2008 al-Qaeda offensive in Iraq was a month-long offensive conducted by al-Qaeda in Iraq against the multinational coalition of USA, UK, Australia and Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anbar campaign (2003–2011)</span> Campaign during the Iraq War

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 Murfreesboro was one of the closing engagements of the Battle of Ramadi during the Iraq War and resulted in a decisive victory for the United States Forces over the Islamic State of Iraq. It is widely credited with breaking the back of the insurgency in Anbar Province, resulting in the Anbar province favoring the new Iraqi government in Baghdad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Sayeed</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American occupation of Ramadi</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anbar campaign (2013–2014)</span> 2014 campaign in Anbar province, Iraq

Beginning in December 2012, Sunnis in Iraq protested against the Maliki government. On 28 December 2013, a Sunni MP named Ahmed al-Alwani was arrested in a raid on his home in Ramadi. Alwani was a prominent supporter of the anti-government protests. This incident led to violence in Al Anbar Governorate between the Iraqi Army and a loose alliance of tribal militias and other groups fighting alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Karmah offensive</span>

The Al-Karmah offensive, codenamed Fajr al-Karma, was an offensive launched by the Iraqi Army and anti-ISIL Sunni tribal fighters to recapture the Al-Karmah district taken by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq. The offensive began on 14 April 2015. During the offensive the anti-ISIL forces captured part of the city of Al-Karmah, and the old road of Al-Karmah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Battle of Habbaniyah</span>

The Second Battle of Habbaniyah was a U.S. military operation involving in Iraq the United States Marine Corps' 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, operating under the command of Regimental Combat Team 5. The battle took place between August 17, 2006 and February 14, 2007.

References

  1. [ dead link ]
  2. Multi-National Force – Iraq – Al-Qaeda foreign fighter killed Archived 11 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Reuters AlertNet – FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, June 23
  4. Multi-National Force – Iraq – Six al-Qaeda killed, five detained near Karmah Archived 11 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Aswat Aliraq
  6. Multi-National Force – Iraq – Another senior al-Qaeda leader identified, killed Archived 11 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine