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After successful efforts to restore order in the Sadr City section of Baghdad, as well as Basra and Mosul, Iraqi security forces now are focused on conducting anti-insurgent operations in the southeastern city of Amarah, a senior U.S. military officer said in Baghdad today. Navy Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll told reports during a Baghdad news conference that Iraq’s soldiers and police are doing “their job to make sure the citizens of this country are no longer intimidated by terrorists and extremist militias and their work is being followed by other areas of government.” On June 18, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri...

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2008 – U.S. and Iraqi forces discovered and confiscated weapons caches and captured insurgents during ongoing operations over the past several days in Iraq. In Baghdad today, Iraqi police seized an explosively formed projectile and several machine-gun rounds during operations in the New Baghdad district. In another operation, police uncovered a weapons cache in New Baghdad consisting of mortar rounds, a rocket, an artillery round, a number of machine-gun rounds, a mortar base plate, a telescopic sight, explosives, a night vision device and a rocket sled. Iraqi soldiers later confiscated several AK-47 rifles, two magazines and a...

Iraqi Special Operations Forces captured a senior Mahdi Army commander with "close ties" to Muqtada al Sadr's office in Najaf on June 19. Two other senior Mahdi Army commanders in Baghdad and Hillah were captured on June 20 and 21. The Mahdi Army commander captured by Iraqi special forces is thought to be "an influential advisor in west Baghdad" with close ties to the Office of the [Martyr] Sadr in Najaf," Multinational Forces Iraq reported. The commander also is able to appoint Mahdi Army officers into command positions. The US military would not release the identity of the leader as...

Sadr's Special Groups By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bill Roggio June 13, 2008 This article was originally published in the Weekly Standard.   In the past month, Iraqi and coalition forces have succeeded in their fight against the Mahdi Army's "special groups." On May 3, the U.S. military destroyed a special groups’ command center in Sadr City, killing a wanted leader in the attack. On May 25, Iraqi special operations forces captured a mid-level special groups leader in the al-Shuala area of Baghdad. And on May 31, Iraqi special operations forces captured another special groups "criminal" in Baghdad who was suspected of...

The Iraqi security forces have detained five senior Sadrist leaders and a department director in Maysan province during Operation Promise of Peace. The Mahdi Army, the armed wing of the Sadrist movement, has not put up any opposition to the government’s efforts to secure Maysan, a Sadrist stronghold on the Iranian border. Iraqi forces are conducting a series of raids in Amarah and throughout the southern province, "capturing key targets including government officials wanted by the authorities in a number of cases," said Brigadier General Abdul Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of the Interior. "Five officials from the...

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2008 – U.S. and Iraqi troops detained 35 suspected terrorists during recent operations in northern Iraq, military officials said. Coalition forces captured 21 suspected terrorists in various operations today across northern Iraq: -- Eight were detained in Tarmiyah, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, for their alleged association with a terrorist network responsible for numerous bombings, murders and hijackings, and for transporting terrorists throughout the country, officials said. -- Coalition forces captured six suspected terrorists in Mosul. One man is wanted for his connections with al-Qaida leaders and foreign-terrorist facilitators throughout the country. Five others were detained...

According the WaPo it appears the Iranians miscalculated when they backed Sadr instead of the Maliki government: For the first time since 2003, Iran has stumbled in Iraq. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s decision to confront Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army in Basra and Sadr City last month caught Tehran off guard. The Mahdi Army lost more than face: It surrendered large caches of arms, and many of its leaders fled or were killed or captured. Crucially, the militias lost strategic terrain — Basra and its chokehold on the causeway between Kuwait and Baghdad and Iraq’s oil exports; Sadr City and the...

The Iraqi security forces today formally kicked off the operations against the Mahdi Army in the southern province of Maysan. On the day the government's amnesty offer expired, the Iraqi Army and police conducted multiple raids throughout Amarah, the provincial capital. A senior Sadrist was detained during the raids. Iraqi forces arrested Rafeaa Jabar, the head of the Sadrist office in Maysan province. He is the mayor of Amarah and the deputy governor of the province. The Sadrists had stated they feared being the target of the operation. "We do not want Basrah events to be repeated in Amara," Sheikh...

AMARA, Iraq (AFP) — Dozens of Shiite militiamen surrendered to Iraqi forces on Wednesday hours before a deadline set by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for them to lay down their arms ahead of a new military crackdown.Officials said the four-day deadline given to the fighters in the southern oil rich province of Maysan was successful although some militants had escaped ahead of the crackdown set to begin at midnight (2100 GMT)."The deadline has been very successful. We have received many weapons, especially today," Defence Minister Abdel Qader Jassem Mohammed told AFP.Mohammed said some militiamen had ran away before the start...

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2008 – U.S. and Iraqi troops killed one enemy fighter and detained 23 suspected terrorists during recent operations in northern Iraq, military officials said. Coalition forces targeted al-Qaida in Iraq operatives in and around Mosul, killing one and detaining 15 today. In operations yesterday: -- Coalition forces in Biaj, about 80 miles southwest of Mosul, came under attack and returned fire, resulting in one attacker dead, one wounded and six others captured. Eight other suspected terrorists were captured in separate operations in Mosul. -- Also in Mosul, Iraqi troops captured a suspected terrorist leader. He’s believed to...

AMARAH, Iraq, June 18 (UPI) -- Iraqi officials say radical Shiite militias have agreed to let the government retake control of provincial capital without a fight. Forces loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr have told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki they won't offer resistance when an expected offensive to take control of Amarah, capital of Maysan province, begins this week, USA Today reported Wednesday. In a change of strategy, the Iraqi government gave ample warning to Sadr's militia forces they were coming to retake the city, which until recently had been in control of the militants. An Iraqi military official...

Yesterday's car bomb attack in the Shia neighborhood of Hayy Hurriyah in Baghdad's Kadamiyah district was carried out by a Mahdi Army Special Group cell, and not al Qaeda in Iraq, the US military stated. The bombing was the largest inside Baghdad since March. The Iraqi military indicates 27 Iraqis were killed and 40 wounded, while press reports put the number killed as high as 51, with more than 80 wounded. A Mahdi Army cell leader named Haydar Mahdi Khadum Al Fawadi was behind the attack, according to intelligence information obtained by Multinational Forces Iraq. "We believe the attack was...

The defeat of Sadr, the Sadrist Movement and their thuggish Mahdi Militia continues apace today as massive numbers of gunmen turn themselves into authorities in Amarah, capitol city of Maysan Province along the Iranian border: Gunmen from different armed groups have begun to surrender to Iraqi government troops in the city of Amarah ahead of a military crackdown due to start there later this week, an Interior Ministry official said on Tuesday.

Iraqi troops replace border guards. Local police forces are raised. Maliki gives deadline for Mahdi Army to disarm. Sadrists fear being targeted. The Iraqi government and military continue to shape the battlefield for the confrontation with the Mahdi Army in Maysan province. Starting late last week, Iraqi security forces started the operation by sealing off the entrances and exits to the province, deploying additional forces from Baghdad and Basrah, warning the population, starting patrols in Amarah, and relieving the provincial chief of police. Since then, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has ordered all wanted Mahdi Army fighters to turn themselves...

Iraqi and US forces were poised to strike a key Shia militia stronghold in southern Iraq yesterday as Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, pushed ahead with his campaign to rid the country of al-Mahdi Army gunmen. A woman holds a portrait of the radical cleric Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr Iraqi army tanks, armoured troop carriers and infantrymen surrounded al-Amarah, a lawless tribal city near the Iranian border that is renowned for its smuggling rings. It once held a British base but the army was mortared so heavily by al-Mahdi Army irregulars that it withdrew to patrol the Iranian frontier. Mr al-Maliki...

BAGHDAD — U.S. Soldiers captured a suspected militant leader in the New Baghdad security district of eastern Baghdad, June 15. Soldiers from the 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light), captured the suspected criminal leader and detained two others during an operation. BAGHDAD — U.S. Soldiers captured a suspected militant leader in the New Baghdad security district of eastern Baghdad, June 15. Soldiers from the 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light), captured the suspected criminal leader and detained two others during an operation. The highly sought-after criminal leader is believed to...

WASHINGTON, June 16, 2008 – Forces in Iraq detained 20 suspects and have found several weapons caches during operations over the last three days, military officials said. Coalition forces in Mosul captured two wanted men and detained nine other al-Qaida in Iraq suspects during operations today. One of the wanted men, an alleged bombing cell leader, was captured along with five suspected associates. The wanted man also is believed to manufacture bombs and target Iraqi and coalition forces. The other wanted man has alleged ties to al-Qaida in Iraq senior leaders and was captured with four additional suspects. Officials said...

The Shiite government signals a desire for an alliance with the United States. Shouldn't that be welcomed?THOUGH IT was hardly noticed in Washington, Iraq's Shiite-led government sent a powerful message to Iran and to the Middle East last week. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose coalition is often portrayed as an Iranian client, traveled to Tehran for a meeting with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The ayatollah bluntly declared that Iraq's "most important problem" was the continuing presence of U.S. troops. He pressured Mr. Maliki to stop negotiating a package of agreements with the Bush administration that would delineate a "strategic...

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces captured suspected terrorists and seized several weapons caches across Iraq during the past three days, military officials said. In operations today: –- Iraqi soldiers discovered a large weapons cache in the Rashid district of Baghdad. The cache consisted of scores of 122 mm rockets with fuses, components to make several hundred explosively formed projectiles, blocks of C-4 explosives, and sticks of TNT. During operations yesterday: –- Iraqi soldiers discovered a large explosives cache after an intelligence-driven raid on the western side of Mosul. The cache consisted of 80 mm mortar rounds,...

Muqtada al Sadr. Muqtada al Sadr has ordered the Sadrist political movement to boycott the upcoming provincial elections. Sadr's order comes one day after his order to disband the Mahdi Army as a fighting force and the creations of a small, armed wing to attack Coalition forces exclusively. Sadrist aides claim Sadr rejects the election process and fears being associated with the occupation. "Sayyid Muqtada does not believe in elections or in the coming provincial governments as long as the occupation forces are here," Salah al Obaidi, a senior aide to Sadr, told The Washington Post. "We don't want...