Operation Black Eagle | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Iraq War, Post-invasion Iraq | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Khalid Hassan † | Muqtada al-Sadr | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() | 25 killed 39 captured |
Operation Black Eagle is an operation that took place during Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2003 to 2010. It was the 381st listed operation during the Iraq war in 2003 [1] [ circular reference ] Black Eagle was an operation in which U.S. Polish, and Iraqi troops battled gunmen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the town of Al Diwaniyah, which is the capital of Iraq's Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, for control of the city. U.S. warplanes targeted insurgent positions with Hellfire missiles in and near the city. As of 7 April 2007, Iraqi officials have verified six insurgents killed and 39 captured. On 10 April 2007, combat operations had been declared to have ended and the operation continued into the reconstruction phase. There is no relation to Operation Black Eagle II that took place in January 2007.
Operation Black Eagle took place in the city of Al Diwaniyah. This city is the capital of Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate. The population of it was estimated to be around 500,00 people. It is currently the 14th most populated city in all of Iraq. It was the location of an insurgent uprise that was to be neutralized. Operation Black Eagle's intention was to disrupt militia activities that were being armed with illegal weapons. It was in response to violence in the area that threatened to destabilize the region. At 6:30 AM, forces began to enter the city and start their mission. They were able to detain 39 militia personnel. On Day 2, they were able to seize an unspecified number of weapon caches. The caches included 27 90mm rockets, six claymore mines, five crates of C-4 explosives, eight explosively formed projectiles, four EFP cones and other EFP-making materials, one roll of detonation cord, 14 hand grenades, 12 blasting caps for explosives, six rolls of copper wire, one global positioning system, 13 fully loaded AK-47 ammunition magazines, 900 PKC machine gun ammunition rounds, two PKC machine gun barrels, one PKC machine gun butt stock, one mortar system sight, and five ballistic vests. [2] On 10 April, the final day of the operation, citizens in the city were to be given more unrestricted movement and the cordon around the city would be opened up for them. [3]
4 countries were a part of the conflict in Al Diwaniyah. The United Kingdom was not heavily involved in this operation. Poland forces helped slightly and one Polish soldier was KIA. American forces included 1st squadron 14th Cavalry Regiment of 3rd brigade, 2nd infantry division and the 0800 Military Transition Team. These Teams took charge of the operation and with the help of the 8th Iraqi Special Forces division and the Multi-National Division-Baghdad, saw to its completion. The 8th Iraqi Special Forces unit was voted as one of the best Iraqi units. [4] The group that opposed those forces were the Mahdi Army, an army of revolutionary Shi'ite Muslims. The American forces had 6 soldiers die, while the Iraqi Special Forces had 29 soldiers killed. On the other side, the Mahdi Army had 25 of its members killed and 39 insurgents were captured.
Immediately after the conclusion of the operation, the city felt much more regulated. Those that were members of the militia were no longer in the city, as they were detained or were killed. Insurgents tended to use car bombs as a way to assault American or Iraqi forces. The seizure of some of those bombs and explosive devices were instrumental in thwarting the incoming attacks. In mid-May however, heavy fighting erupted in the city. [5]
On 11 August 2007, a roadside bomb hit the convoy of the governor of Diwaniya, Khalil Jalil Hamza, killing him along with the province's police chief Brigadier Khalid Hassan. [6] [7]
The Mahdi Army was an Iraqi Shia militia created by Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008.
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 following lists events that happened during 2006 in Iraq.
Operation Together Forward, also known as Forward Together, was an unsuccessful offensive against sectarian militias in Baghdad to significantly reduce the violence in which had seen a sharp uprise since the mid-February 2006 bombing of the Askariya Mosque, a major Shiite Muslim shrine, in Samarra.
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.
Operation Imposing Law, also known as Operation Law and Order, Operation Fardh al-Qanoon or Baghdad Security Plan (BSP), was a joint Coalition-Iraqi security plan conducted throughout Baghdad. Under the Surge plan developed in late 2006, Baghdad was 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 could begin in safety. The U.S. military commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, went so far as to say Iraq would be "doomed" if this plan failed. Numerous members of Congress stated the plan was a critical period for the U.S. presence in Iraq.
The Diyala province campaign was a series of operations conducted by coalition forces against Iraqi insurgents and a number of bombing and guerrilla attacks against the security forces in Diyala Governorate of Iraq, with the purpose of control of the province.
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.
The Battle of Diwaniya took place in Al Diwaniyah, 180 kilometers (111 mi) south of Baghdad, on 28 August 2006 between the Mahdi Army and the Iraqi Army.
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.
Operation Phantom Strike was a major offensive launched by the Multi-National Corps – Iraq on 15 August 2007 in a crackdown to disrupt both the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Shia insurgent operations in Iraq. It consisted of a number of simultaneous operations throughout Iraq focused on pursuing remaining ISI terrorists and Iranian-supported insurgent groups. It was concluded in January 2008 and followed up with Operation Phantom Phoenix.
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.
Operation Lion's Leap was a joint US-Iraqi operation against the Mahdi Army in Diwaniyah, 180 kilometers south of Baghdad. The division-level operation was launched on 17 November 2007 by Iraqi Army and police forces, with a US brigade in support. At least 74 Mahdi Army militiamen were captured and at least two major weapons caches were discovered.
The Battle of Basra began on 25 March 2008, when the Iraqi Army launched an operation to drive the Mahdi Army militia out of the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The operation was the first major operation to be planned and carried out by the Iraqi Army since the invasion of 2003.
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 combatants of the Iraq War include the Multinational Force in Iraq and armed Iraqi insurgent groups. Below is a list of armed groups or combatants that participated in the Iraq War of 2003–2011.
The Sheibani Network was an Iraqi smuggling network and Shi'a Insurgent group led by Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, an ex-commander of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq's Badr Brigades. The Badr Brigades' militiamen and supply lines became known collectively as the “Sheibani Network,” which maintained links to Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) and to Kata'ib Hezbollah. The group was believed to be used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force to supply Iraqi Special Groups. The group is alleged to be responsible for numerous attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces. In 2009 the American Enterprise Institute believed that the network consisted of 280 members, divided in 17 units. US commanders estimated that weapons smuggled and used by the group were responsible for the death of 170 and injuries to 600 American soldiers by February 2007. Beginning in February 2013, reports from Iraqi newspapers Al Masalah and Kitabat claimed splits had emerged within Kata'ib Hezbollah, leading to the expulsion of al-Sheibani as its leader. In May 2013 al-Sheibani founded Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, but retired from his role as leader in 2014 when he became an advisor to Iraqi Interior Minister Mohammed Al-Ghabban.