Operation Phantom Phoenix
Encyclopedia
Operation Phantom Phoenix was a major nation-wide offensive launched by the Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) on January 8, 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 northern operation was designated Operation Iron Harvest. Its objective was to hunt down the remaining 200 Al-Qaeda
extremists remaining in the province of Diyala following the end of the previous offensive. The operation also included targeting insurgent elements in Salah ad-Din province and Nineveh province
. The southern operation was designated Operation Marne Thunderbolt and targeted insurgent safe havens in the belts
to the south-east of Baghdad, particularly the Arab Jabour region.
Additionally, Phantom Phoenix's aims were the remaining car, truck and suicide bomb networks in Baghdad as well as al-Qaeda’s financial network.
Raymond Odierno, the goal of the operation was to provide security for the nine major cities in Iraq, with an emphasis on securing Baghdad
. The operation built on the previous two major operations, Operation Phantom Thunder
and Operation Phantom Strike
, which were launched at the conclusion of the US troop build-up in June 2007, in order to eliminate insurgent safe havens throughout the Baghdad Belts and secure the population of Baghdad.
. Following up on Operation Iron Reaper launched in November 2007, Iron Harvest consisted of two sub-operations: Operation Raider Harvest, carried out by the 4th BCT of the 2nd Infantry Division in Diyala province; and operation Warrior Harvest, carried out by the 1st BCT of the 10th Mountain Division in Kirkuk province (formerly At-Ta'mim province). During the first month of the operation, a contingent of U.S. Marines supported the 4th BCT of the 2nd Infantry Division (Operation Raider Harvest). They were requested from MNF-W to provide support with MRAPs and ground forces. They assisted in conducting cordon-raids, convoy operations, patrols, and worked with U.S. Army Special Forces.
In the lead up to the operation an information blackout aimed at most of the MNF-I's New Iraqi Army comrades was implemented—it has been reported that the Iraqi army had previously used unencrypted forms of communications including regular cellphones and radio.
Following the communications blackout, American troops began a major offensive to drive Sunni insurgents from strongholds in the Diyala and Salah ad-Din provinces. Despite the preemptive measures, insurgents are believed to have gained prior knowledge of the operation plans and pulled out before the Americans arrived. It has been speculated by MNF-I commanders that militants may have been tipped off by communications leaks or by the visible movements of troops and machinery preceding the operation. However some insurgents remained in the province to engage the coalition troops in a possible attempt to delay further advances.
Seven American battalions, accompanied by Iraqi Army units, advanced into a 110 square miles (284.9 km²) area in the northern Diyala River
valley. Decoy operations were attempted in Baqubah
and Wajihiya to the south to mislead the insurgents however advance units noticed an unusual number of women and children fleeing south in cars in the days before the operation. Insurgent fighters left the villages days before but some remained behind or returned to plant car bombs.
During fighting in Diyala over the course of 24 hours up to 24 insurgents were killed and ten captured. In Salah ad-Din at the same time three U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded after their vehicle hit an IED
.
On the second day of the operation American troops involved in the operation suffered further casualties. Six soldiers were killed and four wounded in a blast as their patrol investigated a house which was rigged with explosives.
Fighting continued near Muqdadiyah on day three of the offensive. Eight insurgents were killed in Muqdadiyah and another two insurgents were killed elsewhere in Diyala.
On day 7, 15 insurgents were killed when heavy fighting erupted in Buhriz
, a small village south of Baquba. During house searches by Iraqi Police, three Iraqi policemen and two Awakening Council
militiamen were killed when the house they were searching blew up because of booby traps laid by militants. Another two policemen were missing. Another Awakening Council militiaman was killed in fighting on the outskirts of town.
On day 10, an IED killed three U.S. soldiers in Salah ad-Din and wounded two.
On day 12, Coalition and Iraqi Army forces reported 121 militants killed, and 1,023 suspected militants captured so far. Also on the same day there was an attempted attack on the governor of Diyala province. Three security personnel were killed and two wounded when a bomb exploded at his residence.
By day 16, Coalition troops cleared a key route between Baghdad and Baqubah of improvised explosive devices. The area of the road between Khan Bani Sa’ad and Baqubah had been so heavily covered in IEDs that vehicles had to take other routes to get back and forth from Baghdad and Baqubah. It was also confirmed that 41 of all the insurgents killed in Diyala by then during the operation were al-Qaeda in Iraq operatives.
On day 19, Iraqi Security Forces, advised by U.S. Special Forces, detained an extremist leader and a terrorist financier in separate operations in Safwan, Iraq. Iraqi and U.S. Forces also detained the leader of an extremist group believed to be responsible for mortar and explosive projectile attacks against Iraqi and Coalition Forces.
By February 10, 2008 Coalition forces and Iraqi Security Forces had conducted 74 different operations at the company level and above as part of Iron Harvest. 70 high value individuals were captured or killed, in addition to hundreds of other lower level enemy fighters. 430 weapons caches, 653 IEDs, 42 HBIEDs, 35 VBIEDs, and 3 VBIED factories were all found and cleared.
On day 42, Iraqi army & police forces backed by U.S. aircraft and fighters from local anti-Al-Qaida Awakening Council group carried out a raid at dawn on insurgent hideouts on the open areas near Lake Tharthar
, 120 km north of Baghdad in Salah ad-Din province, on Saturday, killing 10 suspected insurgents, including a local leader, and capturing 4 others, a provincial police officer said. Abdul Basit al-Nissani, a local leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq network, blew himself up after he was surrounded by the security forces while crossing a small river, he said.
On March 25, U.K. SAS troops conducted a raid on a bomb-making team that left one U.K. soldier dead along with two insurgents and nine civilians, including women and children. Four British soldiers were wounded.
On April 13 Coalition forces from MND-N discovered a mass grave south of Muqdadiyah
. The grave contained between 20 and 30 bodies which are estimated to have been buried for nearly eight months.
On April 15, in Baquba as many as 36 people were killed and at least 66 more were wounded during a car bombing near the courthouse. The VBIED (vehicle borne improvised explosive device) was determined to have contained over 1,000 pounds of home-made explosives (HME).
On April 17, near Tuz Khormato in the village of al-Bu Mohammed, at least 50 people were killed and 55 more were wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his explosives at a funeral for two U.S.-allied Awakening Council militia members killed a day earlier. The older bomber was dressed in traditional garb and allowed to enter the funeral freely.
The offensive also included operations in the cities of Tal Afar
and Kirkuk
, also major urban centers in the north of the country. Operations were also conducted in the north-western Jazeera Desert between Mosul and the Syrian border, focusing on the towns of Baji
and Sinjar
.
By late April Coalition forces had made small gains in the north and intelligence reports suggested that Al-Qaeda was regrouping and infiltrating squads of suicide bombers into Baghdad from the north.
In mid-May, a major Iraqi military operation codenamed Operation Lion's Roar (later renamed to Operation Mother of Two Springs) was conducted in Mosul which resulted in the capture of 1,480 insurgents, 300 of them wanted suspects. The operation ended by late May and with it the Ninawa and Kirkuk provinces were declared secured by the Iraqi Army. However, in early June remnant insurgent forces conducted a string of suicide bombings in the north leaving dozens of people dead, many of them members of the security forces. The U.S. military also came under attack in the Hawija area, south of Kirkuk, leaving four soldiers dead and 20 more wounded in two separate attacks within a four-day period. By late that month it was reported that all security gains made by the security forces during operation Lion's Roar had disintegrated. Insurgents managed to re-enter the city and gunmen were seen roaming the streets in force.
On day three of the offensive two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighters carried out massive air-strikes on Arab Jabour, a Sunni district on the southern outskirts of Baghdad. Arab Jabour, a mainly rural district, was one of a few areas of Baghdad that remained under the control of insurgents after Operation Law and Order the previous year. The planes dropped 47 bombs on targets in Arab Jabour in ten separate strikes. The entire raid lasted for ten minutes and the total tonnage of the bombs was 40,000 pounds (18,100 kg). The 40 targets hit in the huge barrage of air-strikes consisted mainly of large weapons caches, explosives, tunnels and powerful roadside bombs buried deep underground — key defensive elements for Al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents reported Army Col. Terry Ferrell. After the raids ground operations followed up and 12 suspected insurgents were captured near Arab Jabour.
On day 14, US warplanes pounded suspected Al-Qaeda havens and weapons caches in Arab Jabour for the third time since the operation began, hitting more than 30 targets in a 35-bomb blitz, the military said. The mainly Sunni Arab Jabour rural area was hit with bombs weighing a total of 19,000 pounds (9,000 kilograms) during the air raids, which aimed to destroy roadside bombs arms caches, and Al-Qaeda havens a military statement said. The raid follows two previous air strikes in the same area on January 10 and January 16. A total of nearly 100 targets were hit with a combined weight of 98,000 pounds of bombs during the three air strikes.
On February 15, 2008, MND-C transitioned from Marne Thunderbolt to Marne Grand Slam. During the initial phase of the operation, the 3rd BCT of the 3rd Infantry Division established a new Combat Outpost in Salman Pak, an area that was a stronghold of the Republican Guard before the war. Coalition forces also established a government center in the area and introduced hundreds of thousands of dollars in micro-grants to rebuild local markets.
On March 15, the Iraqi Army, with support from a US Military transition team
from the 3rd Infantry Division, launched Operation Marne Rugged in the Tigris River valley southeast of the Arab Jabour and Salman Pak regions. The goal of the operation was to secure the approaches to MND-C's area of operations, particularly to control river crossings given the poor condition of bridges and canals in the area.
On April 10, Iraqi Army soldiers discovered 33 bodies in a mass grave in Mahmudiyah. It was the first such discovery of a mass grave in MND-C's area of operations since it was established as part of the "surge" in 2007.
and stated the operation would last for two weeks and will result in the final establishing of law and order in the province. However, in the north the situation was totally different. After Coalition operations initially beat back the insurgents in the northern Ninawa and Kirkuk provinces the rebels came back and heavy fighting was still going on for the north by the end of operation Phantom Phoenix with the security forces still not being able to overcome the last insurgent stronghold in the north, Mosul.
Operation Phantom Thunder
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...
and Operation Phantom Strike
Operation Phantom Strike
Operation Phantom Strike was a major offensive launched by the Multi-National Corps - Iraq on August 15, 2007 in a crackdown to disrupt Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Shia extremist operations in Iraq. It consisted of a number of simultaneous operations throughout Iraq focused on pursuing remaining AQI...
and further reduce violence and secure Iraq's population, particularly in the capital Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. The offensive consisted of a number of joint Coalition and Iraqi Army operations throughout northern Iraq as well as in the southern Baghdad Belts
Baghdad Belts
The Baghdad Belts are the residential, agricultural and industrial areas, as well as communications and transportation infrastructure that encircle the Iraqi capital and connect it to other areas in Iraq...
.
The northern operation was designated Operation Iron Harvest. Its objective was to hunt down the remaining 200 Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
extremists remaining in the province of Diyala following the end of the previous offensive. The operation also included targeting insurgent elements in Salah ad-Din province and Nineveh province
Ninawa Governorate
Ninawa is a governorate in northern Iraq, and the Arabic name for the biblical city of Nineveh in Assyria. It has an area of and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people in 2003. Its chief city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of ancient...
. The southern operation was designated Operation Marne Thunderbolt and targeted insurgent safe havens in the belts
Baghdad Belts
The Baghdad Belts are the residential, agricultural and industrial areas, as well as communications and transportation infrastructure that encircle the Iraqi capital and connect it to other areas in Iraq...
to the south-east of Baghdad, particularly the Arab Jabour region.
Additionally, Phantom Phoenix's aims were the remaining car, truck and suicide bomb networks in Baghdad as well as al-Qaeda’s financial network.
Background
According to Lt GeneralLieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
Raymond Odierno, the goal of the operation was to provide security for the nine major cities in Iraq, with an emphasis on securing Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. The operation built on the previous two major operations, Operation Phantom Thunder
Operation Phantom Thunder
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...
and Operation Phantom Strike
Operation Phantom Strike
Operation Phantom Strike was a major offensive launched by the Multi-National Corps - Iraq on August 15, 2007 in a crackdown to disrupt Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Shia extremist operations in Iraq. It consisted of a number of simultaneous operations throughout Iraq focused on pursuing remaining AQI...
, which were launched at the conclusion of the US troop build-up in June 2007, in order to eliminate insurgent safe havens throughout the Baghdad Belts and secure the population of Baghdad.
Coalition military units involved
Multi-National Division-North
- 4th StrykerStrykerThe IAV Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled, 4-wheel-drive , armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III and produced by General Dynamics Land Systems, in use by the United States Army. The vehicle is named for two American servicemen who posthumously received the Medal of Honor:...
Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 2nd Infantry Division - Diyala province. - 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment - Nineveh province.
- 1st BCT, 10th Mountain Division10th Mountain DivisionThe 10th Mountain Division is a light infantry division of the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. It is a subordinate unit of the XVIII Airborne Corps and the only division-sized element of the U.S. Army to specialize in fighting under harsh terrain and weather conditions...
- Kirkuk area - 1st BCT, 101st Airborne Division101st Airborne DivisionThe 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...
- Salah ad-Din province.
Multi-National Division-Center
- 3rd Infantry Division - southern Baghdad BeltsBaghdad BeltsThe Baghdad Belts are the residential, agricultural and industrial areas, as well as communications and transportation infrastructure that encircle the Iraqi capital and connect it to other areas in Iraq...
.- 2nd BCT, 3rd Infantry Division
- 3rd HBCT, 3rd Infantry Division
- 3rd Aviation Brigade
- 3rd BCT, 101st Airborne Division
- 214th Fires Brigade
Diyala and Salah ad-Din operations
On January 8, 2008, Multi-National Division-North (MND-N) launched Operation Iron Harvest against Al Qaida in Iraq elements in the Diyala province with operations concentrated on MuqdadiyahMuqdadiyah
Muqdadiyah is a city in the Diyala Governorate of Iraq. The city is located at , about 80 km northeast of Baghdad and 30 km northeast of Baquba, the capital of Diyala...
. Following up on Operation Iron Reaper launched in November 2007, Iron Harvest consisted of two sub-operations: Operation Raider Harvest, carried out by the 4th BCT of the 2nd Infantry Division in Diyala province; and operation Warrior Harvest, carried out by the 1st BCT of the 10th Mountain Division in Kirkuk province (formerly At-Ta'mim province). During the first month of the operation, a contingent of U.S. Marines supported the 4th BCT of the 2nd Infantry Division (Operation Raider Harvest). They were requested from MNF-W to provide support with MRAPs and ground forces. They assisted in conducting cordon-raids, convoy operations, patrols, and worked with U.S. Army Special Forces.
In the lead up to the operation an information blackout aimed at most of the MNF-I's New Iraqi Army comrades was implemented—it has been reported that the Iraqi army had previously used unencrypted forms of communications including regular cellphones and radio.
Following the communications blackout, American troops began a major offensive to drive Sunni insurgents from strongholds in the Diyala and Salah ad-Din provinces. Despite the preemptive measures, insurgents are believed to have gained prior knowledge of the operation plans and pulled out before the Americans arrived. It has been speculated by MNF-I commanders that militants may have been tipped off by communications leaks or by the visible movements of troops and machinery preceding the operation. However some insurgents remained in the province to engage the coalition troops in a possible attempt to delay further advances.
Seven American battalions, accompanied by Iraqi Army units, advanced into a 110 square miles (284.9 km²) area in the northern Diyala River
Diyala River
The Diyala River after Darban-e Khan Dam:Kurdish: Sirwan, سيروان, , Persian: سیروان دیاله, is a river and tributary of the Tigris that runs mainly through Eastern Iraq but also Western Iran. It covers a total distance of ....
valley. Decoy operations were attempted in Baqubah
Baqubah
Baqubah is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate.The city is located some to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated population of some 467,900 people....
and Wajihiya to the south to mislead the insurgents however advance units noticed an unusual number of women and children fleeing south in cars in the days before the operation. Insurgent fighters left the villages days before but some remained behind or returned to plant car bombs.
During fighting in Diyala over the course of 24 hours up to 24 insurgents were killed and ten captured. In Salah ad-Din at the same time three U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded after their vehicle hit an IED
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
.
On the second day of the operation American troops involved in the operation suffered further casualties. Six soldiers were killed and four wounded in a blast as their patrol investigated a house which was rigged with explosives.
Fighting continued near Muqdadiyah on day three of the offensive. Eight insurgents were killed in Muqdadiyah and another two insurgents were killed elsewhere in Diyala.
On day 7, 15 insurgents were killed when heavy fighting erupted in Buhriz
Buhriz
Buhriz is an Iraqi town of about 40,000 located 25 miles north of Baghdad and 6 miles south of the major city of Baquba. The town of Buhriz is heavily agricultural, located on fertile land along the Diyala River and engaged in the cultivation of date palms, orange trees, and other crops.It...
, a small village south of Baquba. During house searches by Iraqi Police, three Iraqi policemen and two Awakening Council
Awakening movements in Iraq
The National Council for the Awakening of Iraq , also known as the Sunni Awakening movement Anbar Awakening or the Sons of Iraq program, are coalitions between tribal Sheikhs in a particular province in Iraq that unite to maintain security in their communities.-About:The movement started among...
militiamen were killed when the house they were searching blew up because of booby traps laid by militants. Another two policemen were missing. Another Awakening Council militiaman was killed in fighting on the outskirts of town.
On day 10, an IED killed three U.S. soldiers in Salah ad-Din and wounded two.
On day 12, Coalition and Iraqi Army forces reported 121 militants killed, and 1,023 suspected militants captured so far. Also on the same day there was an attempted attack on the governor of Diyala province. Three security personnel were killed and two wounded when a bomb exploded at his residence.
By day 16, Coalition troops cleared a key route between Baghdad and Baqubah of improvised explosive devices. The area of the road between Khan Bani Sa’ad and Baqubah had been so heavily covered in IEDs that vehicles had to take other routes to get back and forth from Baghdad and Baqubah. It was also confirmed that 41 of all the insurgents killed in Diyala by then during the operation were al-Qaeda in Iraq operatives.
On day 19, Iraqi Security Forces, advised by U.S. Special Forces, detained an extremist leader and a terrorist financier in separate operations in Safwan, Iraq. Iraqi and U.S. Forces also detained the leader of an extremist group believed to be responsible for mortar and explosive projectile attacks against Iraqi and Coalition Forces.
By February 10, 2008 Coalition forces and Iraqi Security Forces had conducted 74 different operations at the company level and above as part of Iron Harvest. 70 high value individuals were captured or killed, in addition to hundreds of other lower level enemy fighters. 430 weapons caches, 653 IEDs, 42 HBIEDs, 35 VBIEDs, and 3 VBIED factories were all found and cleared.
On day 42, Iraqi army & police forces backed by U.S. aircraft and fighters from local anti-Al-Qaida Awakening Council group carried out a raid at dawn on insurgent hideouts on the open areas near Lake Tharthar
Lake Tharthar
Lake Tharthar, known in Iraq as Buhayrat ath Tharthar , is a lake situated 120 kilometers north of Baghdad between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. It is the largest lake in Iraq. The construction of several dams has made it an important source for irrigation. Its size shrinks and expands...
, 120 km north of Baghdad in Salah ad-Din province, on Saturday, killing 10 suspected insurgents, including a local leader, and capturing 4 others, a provincial police officer said. Abdul Basit al-Nissani, a local leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq network, blew himself up after he was surrounded by the security forces while crossing a small river, he said.
On March 25, U.K. SAS troops conducted a raid on a bomb-making team that left one U.K. soldier dead along with two insurgents and nine civilians, including women and children. Four British soldiers were wounded.
On April 13 Coalition forces from MND-N discovered a mass grave south of Muqdadiyah
Muqdadiyah
Muqdadiyah is a city in the Diyala Governorate of Iraq. The city is located at , about 80 km northeast of Baghdad and 30 km northeast of Baquba, the capital of Diyala...
. The grave contained between 20 and 30 bodies which are estimated to have been buried for nearly eight months.
On April 15, in Baquba as many as 36 people were killed and at least 66 more were wounded during a car bombing near the courthouse. The VBIED (vehicle borne improvised explosive device) was determined to have contained over 1,000 pounds of home-made explosives (HME).
On April 17, near Tuz Khormato in the village of al-Bu Mohammed, at least 50 people were killed and 55 more were wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his explosives at a funeral for two U.S.-allied Awakening Council militia members killed a day earlier. The older bomber was dressed in traditional garb and allowed to enter the funeral freely.
Fighting in Ninawa and Kirkuk
As part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, security operations were conducted against Al-Qaeda's last major urban stronghold in the city of Mosul. An offensive was started in late January. A day after Iraqi reinforcements began arriving in the region, five U.S. soldiers were killed when an American patrol was ambushed in the city.The offensive also included operations in the cities of Tal Afar
Tal Afar
Tal Afar is a city and district in northwestern Iraq in the Ninawa Governorate located approximately 30 miles west of Mosul and 120 miles north west of Kirkuk.While no official census data exists, the city which had been...
and Kirkuk
Kirkuk
Kirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
, also major urban centers in the north of the country. Operations were also conducted in the north-western Jazeera Desert between Mosul and the Syrian border, focusing on the towns of Baji
Baji
Baji is a type of beaten rice eaten in Nepal. The most common word for it, and the one visitors to Nepal will generally encounter, is "chiura." "Baji" is the term used by the Newar culture in the Kathmandu Valley. Rice, of course, is a staple in Nepal, as well as the rest of South Asia. The grain...
and Sinjar
Sinjar
Sinjar is the name of a town and district in northwestern Iraq's Ninawa Governorate near the Syrian border. Its population at the time of the 2006 census was 39,875....
.
By late April Coalition forces had made small gains in the north and intelligence reports suggested that Al-Qaeda was regrouping and infiltrating squads of suicide bombers into Baghdad from the north.
In mid-May, a major Iraqi military operation codenamed Operation Lion's Roar (later renamed to Operation Mother of Two Springs) was conducted in Mosul which resulted in the capture of 1,480 insurgents, 300 of them wanted suspects. The operation ended by late May and with it the Ninawa and Kirkuk provinces were declared secured by the Iraqi Army. However, in early June remnant insurgent forces conducted a string of suicide bombings in the north leaving dozens of people dead, many of them members of the security forces. The U.S. military also came under attack in the Hawija area, south of Kirkuk, leaving four soldiers dead and 20 more wounded in two separate attacks within a four-day period. By late that month it was reported that all security gains made by the security forces during operation Lion's Roar had disintegrated. Insurgents managed to re-enter the city and gunmen were seen roaming the streets in force.
Southern Iraq
On January 8, Operation Marne Thunderbolt was launched by Multi-National Center (MND-C) and was the largest operation carried out by the 3rd Infantry Division to date. Its objective was to eliminate al Qaida in Iraq safe havens in Arab Jabour. The operation was spearheaded by the 5th squadron of the 7th Cavalry regiment. It is notable for the unusual amount of air power used during the operation.On day 14, US warplanes pounded suspected Al-Qaeda havens and weapons caches in Arab Jabour for the third time since the operation began, hitting more than 30 targets in a 35-bomb blitz, the military said. The mainly Sunni Arab Jabour rural area was hit with bombs weighing a total of 19,000 pounds (9,000 kilograms) during the air raids, which aimed to destroy roadside bombs arms caches, and Al-Qaeda havens a military statement said. The raid follows two previous air strikes in the same area on January 10 and January 16. A total of nearly 100 targets were hit with a combined weight of 98,000 pounds of bombs during the three air strikes.
On February 15, 2008, MND-C transitioned from Marne Thunderbolt to Marne Grand Slam. During the initial phase of the operation, the 3rd BCT of the 3rd Infantry Division established a new Combat Outpost in Salman Pak, an area that was a stronghold of the Republican Guard before the war. Coalition forces also established a government center in the area and introduced hundreds of thousands of dollars in micro-grants to rebuild local markets.
On March 15, the Iraqi Army, with support from a US Military transition team
Military transition team
A Military Transition Team, or Transition Team, is a 10-15 soldier team that and trains local forces. The term has been used in the context of the "War on Terror" to design groups training in particular the Iraqi Security Forces, Afghan Army and other Afghan security forces.- Mission :The primary...
from the 3rd Infantry Division, launched Operation Marne Rugged in the Tigris River valley southeast of the Arab Jabour and Salman Pak regions. The goal of the operation was to secure the approaches to MND-C's area of operations, particularly to control river crossings given the poor condition of bridges and canals in the area.
On April 10, Iraqi Army soldiers discovered 33 bodies in a mass grave in Mahmudiyah. It was the first such discovery of a mass grave in MND-C's area of operations since it was established as part of the "surge" in 2007.
Operation ends
Combat operations continued until late July. Heavy casualties were sustained on both sides. Although the Coalition military suffered just over 60 dead, the Iraqi security forces and the Awakening Councils forces suffered more than 770 dead and more than a dozen missing or captured. The insurgents suffered almost 900 dead and more than 2,500 were captured. Diyala province had been almost entirely cleared of insurgent forces. On July 29, the Iraqi security forces started their own offensive in Diyala provinceOperation Augurs of Prosperity
Operation Augurs of Prosperity is an Iraqi operation against insurgents in Diyala, north-east of Baghdad. The operation was launched on July 29, 2008 by elements of at least three Iraqi Army divisions, with four U.S. armored cavalry squadrons from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 2nd...
and stated the operation would last for two weeks and will result in the final establishing of law and order in the province. However, in the north the situation was totally different. After Coalition operations initially beat back the insurgents in the northern Ninawa and Kirkuk provinces the rebels came back and heavy fighting was still going on for the north by the end of operation Phantom Phoenix with the security forces still not being able to overcome the last insurgent stronghold in the north, Mosul.
See also
- Operation Phantom ThunderOperation Phantom ThunderOperation 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 StrikeOperation Phantom StrikeOperation Phantom Strike was a major offensive launched by the Multi-National Corps - Iraq on August 15, 2007 in a crackdown to disrupt Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Shia extremist operations in Iraq. It consisted of a number of simultaneous operations throughout Iraq focused on pursuing remaining AQI...
- Iraq Spring Fighting of 2008Iraq Spring Fighting of 2008The Iraq Spring Fighting of 2008 was a series of clashes between the Mahdi Army and the Iraqi Army supported by coalition forces, in southern Iraq and Baghdad, that began with an Iraqi offensive in Basra...
- Ninawa campaignNinawa campaignThe Ninawa campaign was a series of offensives and counter-attacks between insurgent and Coalition forces for control of the Ninawa Governorate in northern Iraq in early to mid-2008...
- Diyala campaignDiyala campaignThe 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.-Background:In 2006, Diyala province...