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Click the image to view the slideshow several caches of Iranian-made weapons seized in February and March. Images courtesy of Multinational Forces Iraq. |
Clashes between the Mahdi Army and US and Iraqi forces continue in northern and eastern Baghdad over the weekend despite a call by Muqtada al Sadr for his fighters to cease attacks. US air weapons team killed seven Mahdi Army fighters in Sadr City on Saturday and early Sunday morning while the Mahdi Army attacked a police patrol in the Sha’ab neighborhood and launched mortars at the International Zone. Meanwhile, an Iraqi general has said Iran is involved with arming and training Shia terrorists to conduct attacks in Iraq.
The Seven Mahdi Army fighters were killed in four separate engagements in Sadr City on April 26 and 27. The Mahdi Army fighters were observed by unmanned aerial vehicles as they transported weapons and plant roadside bombs in the Mahdi Army stronghold.
US and Iraq troops have used unmanned aerial vehicles and manned helicopter teams to strike at Mahdi Army fighters planting roadside bombs and launching rocket and mortar attacks against the International Zone. The Mahdi Army took advantage of a sandstorm in Baghdad to launch 10 mortars at the International Zone on Sunday. No casualties were reported in the mortar attack. US manned and unmanned aircraft were grounded as conditions made flying unsafe.
Outside of Sadr City, Mahdi Army fighters ambushed an Iraqi police patrol in the Sha’ab neighborhood. Three police were killed and 14 Iraqis, including seven police, were wounded in a roadside bomb attack near a playground, Voices of Iraq reported.
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Map of Baghdad neighborhoods. Click to view. |
The Sha’ab neighborhood hosts a dangerous Mahdi Army group led by Arkan Hasnawi. A brigade commander in the Mahdi Army, Hasnawi has been linked to multiple attacks on US and Iraq security forces. He was behind the kidnapping of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders in Diyala province in October 2007. His network was also behind the kidnapping of six Sons of Iraq from a checkpoint in Baghdad’s Ur neighborhood on Feb. 7. US and Iraqi forces fought multiple battles with the Hasnawi network in February and captured a key lieutenant during a raid.
The Sha’ab neighborhood (numbers 21-23 on the map) sits to the northwest of Sadr City (numbers 26-28). Iraqi and US troops currently control the Ishbilya and Habbibiyah neighborhoods (numbers 26 and 27) and have walled off these areas to restrict the movement of weapons and supplies. The Mahdi Army has used these neighborhoods to launch mortar and rocket attacks against the International Zone (made up of parts of numbers 50-52). Last week, General Abud Qanbar Hashim the chief of the Baghdad Operational Command said 82 people had been killed and 476 wounded in rocket and mortar attacks since fighting began on March 25. A large majority of the mortar and rocket strikes were launched from Sadr City.
The Iraqi government and military have begun to connect the fighting in Baghdad and the South with Iran. Major General Qasim Atta, a spokesman for the Iraqi military, said Iranian-made weapons, including rockets, mortars, and the deadly explosively formed projectile roadside bombs, have been used in attacks inside Baghdad. “We have found many Iranian-made weapons — Katyusha and Grad rockets, and smart roadside bombs and smart bombs. We have also seized some documents and identified some people,” Atta said. “In the past month 712 rockets and mortars have been fired. Most of these were Iranian-made.”
16 Comments
Maliki can’t be too in bed with the Iranians if he allows his generals to call them out for supplying weapons and “identifying” people and capturing documents when Iran denies any responsibility. If I were providing weapons, training and guidance to a militia and one of my “friends” kept seizing the weapons and capturing and killing the trainees and trainers, I cannot imagine that I would be pleased my supposed surrogate.
Maliki does not seem to be a Nasrallah or Mashal to me.
I think that Maliki’s stance toward Iran may change with time, as ISF continues to develop its logistics, field artillery, and eventually air support–and as internal conflicts continue to simmer down.
His stance of placation in 2007 would not make sense if Iraq’s military was as strong as the US (or for that matter, even a regional power like Turkey), but it wasn’t. Any demands or ultimatums he would have made would have rang hollow. Now, things are changing.
The Mahdi Army didn’t fare any better on Sunday night either.
MNF-Iraq: MND-B Soldiers kill 16 criminals in separate engagements
MNF-Iraq: Iraqi Army and MND-B Soldiers kill 22 enemy repelling attack against ISF checkpoint in northeast Baghdad
You may have misunderstood what Al-Sadr is telling his fighters. They are not to “cease attacks.” The New York Times reported that the order is “to wage open war against the Americans…until liberation.”
Great reporting on this site.
I get the impression that all the heavy lifting in Sadr City is being done by US troops
in terms of hits on ‘criminals’ etc.
Surely the IA with large numbers should be overwhelming the Mahdi Army in Sadr city by now?
Bill,
What do you make of this report that Syria was hosting meetings between the Islamic Army, al Qaeda and Sadr’s group to discuss talks of attacks on the U.S. and Iraqi government?
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/are-sadr-and-al-qaeda-teaming-up-in-iraq/#comment-32952
I wonder who is responsible for this?
Associated Press: Iraqi police say gunmen kill local commander of anti-U.S. Shiite cleric
(h/t The Strata-Sphere)
patrick
False assumption of available troops.
The 42nd and 44th IA Bdes are in south Sadr City and backed by 35th Armored Bde. They are the forward positions there. Other elements are positioned to contain the boundaries of Sadr City.
That is a concentrated area with a population of 2 million….
It would take another division to do a full clearance of Sadr City minimum. The reinforcements to Basrah and Mosul have stripped the IA reserve for now.
When Basrah is done and the 1st IA Division is available to redeploy, then look for the expansion into more of Sadr City. Possibly as early as May, but more likely June/July.
Current significant ops by the IA include (IADs):
– Mosul (2nd/3rd)
– Diyala (5th)
– Kirkuk (4th)
– South Baghdad Province (9th/6th)
– Sadr City (11th)
– Karbala and Kut (8th)
– Nasariyah (10th)
– Basrah (1st/14th)
12th Div is still forming in Salahadin.
7th Div(-) is all that is covering Anbar.
DJ
Thanks for clarifying all that. Will be interesting to see the endgame there.
patrick
patrick butler
One thing to keep in mind about the IA. 25% of its current combat brigades did not exist a year ago.
They may be fielding one new brigade a month but, most are not up to offensive ops for 6-12 months after first fielded.
Also, the cadre for those brigades is coming out of other experienced brigades.
That means they have 48 brigades capable of holding ground but, less than 20 that are truely offensive capable and not all of those have urban offensive combat experience.
1st and 9th are the QRF Divs. Both have a brigade supporting in east Baghdad. But both have forces deployed to other areas as well. Watch where they show up in strength…
DJ – You might consider a supplementary Order of Battle. All these troops moving around has already made your April Order of Battle out of date. I guess May isn’t too far off though.
Have you heard any updates new units, 21-5 deploying to Diyala or 29-7 deploying to Rutbah?
Has any consideration of using converted Peshmerga units in the far south in Basra, Nasiriyah, or Samawah to man checkpoints, serve as reserve, or beef up boarder units?
Neo
I intentionally update only once a month and then the data is a week old by the time it is posted. I prefer not to provide tacticaly up-to-date data to the enemy…
21/5 replaced the 3/1 in Diyala which is why 3/1 Bde was available to go to Basrah.
29/7 only graduated Unit Set Fielding at Habbenayah on the 3rd. (first to graduate USF anywhere other than Besmaya, program expansion.) No reports of operational employment yet. Might not be going to Rutbah so quick with the entire 1st Div deployed out of Anbar and the 26/7 in Basrah. Only three IA Bdes in Anbar ATT…
Only place that Peshmerga has been employed is in MND-N so far. As they retrain, re-equip and re-flag as IA, they will be available to go anywhere in Iraq. Just like the 53% kurdish 14/4 IA Bde that is in Basrah ATT…
Thanks DJ,
For the time being at least, it looks like their stretched tight as a drum. It looks like incremental measures against Sadr until a few new units can relieve the some of the more experienced units in Basra. That will probably take the better part of a month or so, starting with some of the smaller units is my guess. I don’t think JAM has enough punch or cohesiveness to take advantage. They might knock their brains out trying though. AQI might be a bit more of a problem. They may well take advantage to set up a few bombing cells. The “awakening councils”
Neo
Already seen two bns sliced off of two different divs show up in Basrah since the big shift.
Also the new 53rd Bde/14th Div started bootcamp early this month. That means it will be in Basrah late-Jun.
Put together with the forces necessary to hold being less than to clear and Jun/Jul is the target date for Sadr City.
90 days of improvements to the southern end for the citizens to see and then start extending north at their invite…
DJ and Neo,
Thanks for the in-depth tactical discussion of Iraqi Army force dispositions. Great stuff.
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