Iraqi forces raid Iran-backed Shi'ite strongholds

Iraq has launched a rare security operation near its border with Kuwait.

Officials said the Iraq Army conducted a large-scale operation in the south near the Kuwaiti border. The operation began on May 11 in the southern Basra province in the area of Mount Sanam.

"The military operation took place within Iraqi territory regardless of the fact that the targeted areas were located near the Kuwaiti or Saudi Arabian borders," Iraq Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Aziz Al Kadhemi said.

Al Kadhemi said the operation by the army's 14th Brigade sought to seize weapons caches by Shi'ite insurgents, Middle East Newsline reported. So far, the general said, more than 100 weapons have been found.

Ex-war zone prepares for election - BBC

Paul Adams
BBC News, in Basra

In the second instalment of his week-long diary, BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams joins Iraqi troops as they patrol an area repeatedly hit by conflict but now preparing for elections.

Another pre-dawn start as we follow elements of the Iraqi 14th Division down to Safwan, on the Kuwaiti border.

This is where we used to come in and out of Iraq in 2003-04, before the road became too dangerous.

A bright orange sun rises, spectacularly, behind the fierce gas flares of a nearby oil field.

It is a spectacular sight but the convoy sweeps on and my cameraman, Fred, can only dream of what might have been.

Once again, the area is swarming with Iraqi soldiers, but this time there is no specific target.

Col Haidar of the 1st Battalion, 50 Brigade, says it is just a show of strength before Saturday's important provincial elections.

A police counterpart arrives on the scene and the atmosphere is briefly frosty - when the Iraqi army took on Basra's militiamen during intense fighting last spring, two of Col Haidar's men were killed by policemen allied to the militias.

It still rankles.

But food arrives, chairs are provided and the mood lightens. In one of this week's more improbable moments, we eat a breakfast of kebabs in the middle of the busy highway, army jeeps and heavily armed guards ranged about to stop the traffic.

Col Haidar is a veteran soldier and he speaks with a rueful smile of being one of the first Iraqi soldiers into Kuwait during Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion (which triggered the first Gulf War).

Bloodshed and hardship

Safwan has seen armies come and go since then.

The retreating Iraqis were harried by coalition forces as they were bundled out of Kuwait in 1991 (some of the military wreckage which litters the desert around here almost certainly dates from that harrowing episode).

A dozen years later, coalition forces raced north from the same stretch of border. Local people watched and waved and the British imagined that this might not be so hard.

Now, after almost six years of bloodshed and great hardship, the British are getting ready to leave.

The mentoring team I am embedded with will probably be gone within weeks and the huge logistical task of evacuating the British headquarters out at the airport has already begun.

A few miles to the west, we can see trucks moving south along Route Topeka, the coalition's main supply route from Kuwait. By June and July, it will be even busier.

Back in Basra, we pause to take in streets festooned with garish election posters.

A bewildering array of candidates and lists gazes down on the city, but the population seems cynical about the ability of politicians to improve their lot.

Fred's camera comes out and soon we are surrounded by an animated crowd, bombarded from all sides by passionately held views on politics and the war. Are the British entitled to leave with honour, I ask?

The response is decidedly mixed. Yes, Tony Blair and George Bush brought us a kind of democracy, they say, but what good has it really done us?

British and Iraqi soldiers look on from a polite distance, but no-one interferes and the Basrawis are free to speak their minds.

Click here to see the article on BBC Online

Iraqi army 'ready and able' - BBC Online

Paul Adams BBC News, in Basra

In the first entry of his week-long diary, BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams joins British troops on a raid near Basra as they witness the progress made by the Iraqi Army.
Up before dawn as word comes of an Iraqi army search operation at Az-Zubeir, south east of the city.

The operation involves 50 Iraqi Army Brigade, who our British hosts from the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment are mentoring, so we are invited along to watch.

We race through the deserted streets of Iraq's second largest city, not really knowing what the morning will hold.

The British MiTTs (Military Transition Teams) are not here to direct Iraqi army operations - those days are long gone - but to observe and offer discreet advice.

To keep a low profile, the Brits leave their imposing Mastiff armoured personnel carriers behind and ride in soft-skinned Iraqi jeeps.

They do not want to draw attention to themselves, a lesson from the days when highly visible British soldiers became a magnet for militia attacks.

The job of "mitting" will end soon, probably well before the final British departure date of 31 July, and this certainly feels like the beginning of the end.

Help and equipment

Britain's role in training and mentoring the 14th Iraqi army division is almost done. As this morning's display shows, the Iraqis are organising and conducting their own operations with minimal British support.

To be sure, an RAF Lynx flies up and down the road as we near az-Zubeir, and an occasional whine gives away the presence overhead of a tiny British drone, a Desert Hawk.

Britain is still providing the sort of help and equipment the reconstituted Iraqi armed forces cannot muster.

But as the true size of the raid becomes apparent, causing astonishment among the British soldiers watching, it seems clear the Iraqi army is operating with considerable confidence.
Or at least that is the impression it hopes to convey.

As the sun comes up over the desert, our convoy stretches as far as the eye can see.
It seems that 14 Division has thrown almost everything it has into the operation.
It unfolds at a fairly leisurely pace, with several U-turns and, when we reach the town, a lot of standing around. But the British are still impressed.

"They've got it pretty well locked down," remarks Maj Adrian Grinonneau as we pass street after street blocked off by armoured vehicles and well-armed Iraqi troops.

"This is unprecedented from our viewpoint," he says as more and more troops arrive.
And to emphasise that, this is an Iraqi operation through and through. He adds: "We're not giving them guidance, we're not giving them direction. Operationally, they're mustard [sharp]."
The search, in a dirt poor town with a reputation for lawlessness and violence, yields dozens of weapons, from an ageing Sten gun to an assortment of Kalashnikovs. More than 120 weapons in all.

Some of the house searches look a little staged for our camera and the town's sleepy atmosphere seems at odds with the overwhelming military presence.

But with just five days to go before Iraq's important provincial elections, it seems the army is glad and able to make a big statement. And for the watching Brits, that means that it'll soon be time to go home.

See the report on the BBC website here

Iraqi Army Day Parade

Yesterday the British Army trained Iraqi 14th Division celebrated the 88th Iraqi Army Day with a full scale parade and march past in Basra on Sunday 11 January 2009.

Iraqi Army Day is a national day of celebration that takes place annually on 6th January to commemorate the formation of the Iraqi Army. In its 88th year, the Iraqi Army’s 14th Division paraded over 1000 troops, 3 helicopters and 3 reconnaissance aircraft and over 300 vehicles in a march, fly and drive past the General Officer Commanding Basrah District, General Mohammed, at the Shat Al Arab Hotel in central Basra. Also present at the parade was Brigadier Tom Beckett, Commander 20th Armoured Brigade (The Iron Fist) who had been invited by General Mohammed to represent the British Forces in Iraq.

The involvement of so many vehicles and personnel in such a large parade shows just how far the Iraqi Army has come in recent months in terms of their ability to conduct and execute military planning. The parade also demonstrated the improved security in the region, in that such a large event could take place in central Basra. In another positive sign of flourishing normality over 20 members of the local media were also present to record and broadcast the event, ensuring that the local population were able to see their army in all its splendor.

Colonel Abbas Al Tamimi, media operations officer for the Iraq Army 14th Division said:

“The people of Basra are celebrating the stability and security in Basra that the Iraqi Army has achieved and maintained. The people of Basra are now reaping the fruits of this improved stability and security”

Brigadier Tom Beckett said:

“This has been a fantastic parade and when you think that they can put on something like this with so many people and vehicles and it runs like clockwork, it shows how the Iraqi Army has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years.”

He continued:

“As we have seen, after Operation ‘Charge of the Knights’ the Iraqi Army is an effective and capable force able to bring security to the people of Basra. For us, [Coalition Forces] the next big milestone is the elections. It’s making sure that the Iraqi Army and Security Forces are happy with their security lay down and that we can help them in any way that they need to be helped”