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Britain has been in charge of four provinces in southern Iraq since Saddam Hussein's downfall. While the divisional command will continue to operate under British leadership at Basra airbase, the orders of the US units will be to "get out front" and resume patrols and combat missions. US hopes of making the whole of Iraq secure before its eventual withdrawal have been raised by what commanders see as a potential southern version of the Sahwa, or tribal awakening, which turned locals against al-Qa'eda. Troops have been shifted from Anbar province to the Tallil airbase, Nasiriya, to assume responsibility from 550...

Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British solider in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant. Sitting in the front garden of his well-kept home in the city's Al-Fursi district, he remains a free man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then stabbed his student daughter to death. Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police congratulated him on what he had done. 'They are men and know what honour is,' he said. Rand, who was studying...

When 17-year old Rand Abdel-Qader met a British soldier in Basra, she dreamt of romance. But five months later she was murdered in a savage attack by her father. But there will be no trial: this was an 'honour killing'. Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, told her closest friend that she was in love from the moment she set eyes on the young British soldier working alongside her in Basra, and she dreamed of a future with him. It was an innocent infatuation but five months after Rand, a student of English at Basra University, met Paul, a 22-year-old soldier posted to...

British soldier has been killed and three others injured in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. Their vehicle hit a mine while on a routine patrol in Helmand province in the south of the country. The four soldiers were from the Household Cavalry Regiment. The next of kin have been informed. The death brings the number of UK troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 95.

US Marines poured into a lawless town in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province — the first time a sizeable American force has fought in the largely British sector of the country for several years. About 2,400 Marines, many veterans of the war in Iraq, were involved in the dawn assault on Garmser. Helicopters and armoured vehicles surrounded the town, known as a Taleban stronghold and big staging post for drug traffickers involved in the thriving opium trade in Helmand. “We haven’t seen anybody who isn’t carrying a gun,” said Major Tom Clinton, the commander of US forces at Forward Operating Base...

A teenage Iraqi girl who fell in love with a British soldier when he was in Basra was murdered by her father in an "honour killing", it was revealed today. Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, was suffocated and then hacked at with a knife after her family discovered she was friends with the 22-year-old soldier who she knew only as Paul. The pair first met when Rand was working on an aid project for displaced families but it is thought the soldier is unaware of the girl's fate. She was stamped on, suffocated and stabbed - leaving her with puncture wounds all...

Britain is to deploy hundreds of troops to Kosovo in a move likely to revive claims that the government is demanding too much from its armed forces. Senior military and defence officials have agreed to a request from Nato to send a battlegroup based on 2 Rifles, a light infantry battalion of about 600 soldiers, to help maintain "public order" in the newly independent Balkan state, the Guardian has learned. For the first six months of this year, Britain is responsible for providing Nato's standby reserve force for the Balkans. British defence sources said yesterday the deployment of 2 Rifles...

The Army wife whose husband and three sons are ALL fighting in IraqLast updated at 18:01pm on 24th April 2008It is the astonishing story of one family's determination to serve Queen and country. And while most families would say having a single son serve in Iraq would be enough, one mother faces the heartache of watching three of her boys deployed to the war-torn nation. Not only that, Wendy Mackness also has to wave off husband Danny who is poised to depart on his tour of duty. Scroll down for more ...I'll miss you: Major Danny Mackness with his...

A British soldier has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The soldier, from the Queens Royal Lancers Regiment, died after a suspected minestrike on his vehicle on Monday morning. It takes the number of UK troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 94. A second soldier hurt in the blast is being treated in field hospital. The MoD said the dead soldier's next of kin had been informed. The soldier was providing security to a supply convoy travelling from the town of Gareshk in Helmand province. The vehicles were returning to the...

The British-trained Iraqi Army's attempt to retake Basra from militiamen was an "unmitigated disaster at every level", British commanders have disclosed. Frontline: Our troops in Iraq and AfghanistanYour view: Is now the time to pull British troops out of Iraq?Analysis: Why British troops should stay in IraqSenior sources have said that the mission was undermined by incompetent officers and untrained troops who were sent into battle with inadequate supplies of food, water and ammunition.   Iraqi soldiers at the Divisional Training Centre outside Basra They said the failure had delayed the British withdrawal by "many months". Their comments came as...

IRAQI forces backed by British troops and artillery seized the main stronghold of the radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern port city of Basra yesterday. The operation, which also involved RAF and American aircraft, forced the cleric’s Mahdi army militants to cede control of a district where they had fought off an Iraqi onslaught last month. A senior Mahdi source in Basra said British soldiers - believed to be SAS troops directing attacks - had accompanied the Iraqis as they moved into the district of Hayaniya. British officials said only that “liaison teams” were advising Iraqi commanders on...

In Basra the signs of the feared militia are slowly receding. For the first time in years alcohol vendors are selling beer close to army checkpoints, and ringtones praising the rebel cleric Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr are vanishing from mobile phones. Music shops are once again selling pop tunes instead of the recorded lectures of Shia ayatollahs. But, as the city cautiously comes back to life after an offensive by Iraqi troops backed by hundreds of US soldiers, there is a lingering resentment towards the British Army. Many here blame the British for allowing the al-Mahdi Army and other militias to...

Two servicemen from the RAF Regiment were killed in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan, according to the Ministry of Defence. The pair died during the explosion in Kandahar Province on Sunday 13 April at 1848 local time, the MoD said. Two other service personnel were injured in the incident, which took place during a routine patrol 1.2 miles (2km) west of Kandahar Airfield. Next of kin of all those involved have been notified. The deaths bring the number of UK service personnel killed in Afghanistan to 93.

My son has returned from Iraq after 4 month tour of duty with the RAF, He told me while there, that he spent a week with the American camp at Balad. Please pass on my thanks to all Servicemen and women at this site for the hospitality shown to a young Brit, while on duty , as them in a foreign land defending freedom..........

Relations between Britain and Iraq suffered “catastrophic failure” after Baghdad bypassed the British military and called in the American “cavalry” to help the recent offensive against Shia militia in Basra, The Times has learnt. About 550 US troops, including some from the 82nd Airborne Division, were sent from Baghdad to Basra to join up with 150 American soldiers already serving with Iraqi forces in the southern city. The Ministry of Defence made much of the fact that British troops, based at Basra airport outside the city, were not requested in the early stages of the operation. British officials claimed that...

Seven British soldiers were shot in Basra last year by the same sniper rifle, the Ministry of Defence has revealed. The troops were picked off one by one on the streets of the southern Iraqi city by a weapon firing high-velocity American-made bullets. Rifleman Aaron Lincoln, 18, Kingsman Danny Wilson, 28, Kingsman Alan Jones, 20, Corporal Rodney Wilson, 30, Rifleman Paul Donnachie, 18, and two others who have not yet been named, were all killed by bullets from the same weapon, said a spokesman for the MoD. But he could not verify that a single gunman was responsible. Rifleman Lincoln,...

There has been a lot of negative talk on here about our allies, the British. There has evidently been a lot of negative talk in the UK about America as well. Despite all that, I still believe that Britain is among one or two countries in the world that the US can truly call a "friend" as well as an ally. Australia may be another. We do indeed have a "special relationship" and it would be tragic to see that end. Our two nations are the last, best hope for freedom and right in the world, and though we may...

A Royal Marine who threw himself onto an exploding grenade to save the lives of his patrol has been put forward for the UK's highest military honour. Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, 24, a reservist from Birmingham, survived because his rucksack and body armour took the force of the blast. He was part of a reconnaissance troop in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February, when the incident happened. The Ministry of Defence said he could be considered for the Victoria Cross. Bloodied nose A spokesman said L/Cpl Croucher's comrades had made a citation to their commanding officer and officers were now considering...

Two British soldiers have been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The two members of 40 Commando, Royal Marines, were on a routine patrol on Sunday when they were hit by what is thought to be a roadside bomb. Their deaths in Helmand province bring the number of UK service personnel killed in Afghanistan to 91, all but five of them in the last two years. Next of kin have been informed of the latest two deaths. The spokesman for Helmand task force said they were investigating the cause of the blast, which could...

Pure hell of the siege of Musa Qala A little-reported battle against the Taliban in which seven of our (Poster's note: "our" means British, the Royal Irish Brigade troops) troops died has been revealed as one of the fiercest and most heroic of the Afghan campaign. Lieutenant-Colonel DJ Reynolds Musa Qala, a besieged outpost deep in Taliban territory, holds a special place in the battle records of the Pathfinder platoon of 16 Air Assault Brigade – and of the Irishmen, Danes and other soldiers who braved face-to-face fighting to relieve them. When a column at last got through to Musa...

A Royal Marine who threw himself onto an exploding grenade to save the lives of his patrol has been put forward for the UK's highest military honour. Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, 24, a reservist from Birmingham, survived because his rucksack and body armour took the force of the blast. He was part of a reconnaissance troop in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February, when the incident happened. The Ministry of Defence said he could be considered for the Victoria Cross.

Hopes for a ceasefire in Iraq’s developing Shia civil war were swiftly undermined last night when the Government said that it would not stop attacking outlaw militia members despite an offer from militia leaders to freeze the conflict. Fierce fighting went on in areas of Basra loyal to Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, despite the rebel cleric’s call to his militiamen to put down their weapons. In Baghdad mortars continued to slam into the green zone government compound. British troops stationed at Basra airport were deployed outside their base for the first time yesterday, backing up Iraqi forces on the edge of...

A Royal Marine could receive the highest award for gallantry after he saved the lives of his comrades by throwing himself onto an exploding grenade in Afghanistan, it has been reported. Lance Corporal Matt Croucher amazingly survived the incident despite shrapnel peppering his helmet during the explosion. L/Cpl Croucher's backpack was thrown more than 30ft in the explosion His extraordinary courage, which could lead to a citation for the Victoria Cross, came after a tripwire booby-trap was stepped on during a nighttime mission outside the town of Sangin, Helmand province.

A heroes' return - troops home after Afghan tour   Well-wishers lined the streets of Maidstone yesterday to welcome Kent soldiers back from Afghanistan. Around 330 troops from 36 Engineer Regiment marched through the county town in a cold and wet homecoming parade. Major General Keith Cima presented the men with medals for their sixth-month tour of the dangerous Helmand Province. The general said that the troops had, “helped to make Afghanistan a better place for her people”. “You have undergone the fear, the fun and the challenge of operational service,” he added. “You can look anybody straight in...

'British forces have become directly involved in the fighting in Basra, as clashes continue between the Iraqi army and militiamen of the Mehdi Army. The UK military said troops had launched artillery shells at a mortar crew in the al-Khalaf area of northern Basra, which had fired on Iraqi troops. It is the first time they have directly joined the fighting since the Iraqi army operation began on Tuesday. The British Army spokesman in Basra said the engagement had been a success. Iraqi government forces have been trying to wrest control of Basra and other Shia areas from the Mehdi...

LONDON, March 28 (UPI) -- One casualty of the fighting in Basra is likely to be the British plan to draw down its troops in southern Iraq, officials said. The British government had planned to cut its force to 2,500. There are now 4,100 British soldiers based outside Basra. "Any plans for a reduction of British troops is off the table for the time being," a senior source in the Defense Department told The Times of London. British Defense Secretary Des Brown is expected to report to Parliament next week that any reduction in force will be delayed for at...

Rift between UK diplomats and Army in Basra By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 1:13am GMT 29/03/2008 British forces are facing increasing pressure to intervene in fighting in southern Iraq after government efforts to defeat Shi'ite militias in Basra ground to a halt. Signs of a rift were growing among British officials as diplomats said that UK forces "stand ready to support" Iraqi soldiers as and when requested, contradicting military statements that UK forces would be confined to "niche" roles. Fighting in Basra, Baghdad and the central town of Kut has claimed at least 100 lives this week...

Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides. Mehdi Army fighters loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hold their weapons while flashing the V sign in Basra Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra. His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the...

The fighting that has erupted in Basra should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the course of the war in Iraq. While the US has spent the last year increasing force size in western Iraq and more aggressively challenging militias in Baghdad, the British have become more passive in Basra and have significantly reduced their footprint to one-tenth of their original commitment. That has made them almost invisible in the south, and since the Iraqi Army did not have a large enough presence there either, the British reduction allowed competing Shi’ite militias to take control of the...

A British soldier killed in Iraq was an SAS trooper fighting in Baghdad, Sky sources understand. The Ministry of Defence have confirmed a soldier died as a result of wounds sustained during an Iraq firefight, but have not confirmed the exact location.

A British soldier has been killed during a firefight in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence said. The soldier died from gunshot wounds after clashes in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The soldier's family have been informed. They have asked that no further information about the soldier be released, the MoD said. It is understood the soldier's death is not linked to operations in Basra. There is no indication of where the incident took place. An MoD spokesman said: "It is with deep regret that the MoD must announce the death of a British soldier in Iraq. "The soldier died...

British Special Forces are conducting covert operations against drug smugglers in southern Afghanistan for the first time. The operations represent a shift from the British military's long-held opposition to direct involvement in Afghanistan's drugs war. British Special Forces in Helmand province had previously been limited to targeting members of the Taliban leadership. A British Army patrol passes a field of poppies in Helmand province The operations are being conducted at night with members of Battalion 333, a secretive unit from the elite Afghan counter-narcotics police. Nato commanders have long been resistant to taking a direct role in the drugs war,...

Commando who fought off 70 Taliban in Afghanistan is honoured in secret By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent Last Updated: 1:56am GMT 22/03/2008 A British commando has secretly received one of the highest decorations for bravery for tackling 70 Taliban fighters after two colleagues were killed during an ambush. The sergeant, who cannot be named to protect his identity, was part of a 16-man team of Special Forces conducting a "snatch operation" to capture four Taliban leaders near Sangin in the north of the British zone in Afghanistan. The firefight took place on June 27 2006, but the award of a...

The Army has launched a publicity campaign costing an estimated £2m to encourage public support for UK soldiers. (note to thread: the next point are ones that I have picked out from larger article. You can view the entire article @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7300626.stm)Rikstir ...The campaign, which is being launched just days before the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion and is entitled "To the Best", aims to share stories of the work troops do. It includes a website where messages of support can be left... ...Last year, Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, expressed concerns about "the growing...

Fast, powerful and with a fearsome array of weaponry, it has already been named "Pitbull" by the soldiers who will drive it deep behind enemy lines. The Army has unveiled its new £200,000 all-terrain vehicle, tailor-made for the hostile terrain of Helmand in Southern Afghanistan. Senior officers say the vehicle will greatly enhance the fighting capability of their soldiers, and will save lives. Armed with a mix of machine guns and an automatic grenade launcher, and with a range of more than 500 miles, the vehicle will be used to hunt down and destroy the Taliban during long range surveillance...

Prince Harry learns why 4th is first A call comes in from somewhere in the desert. A Joint Tactical Air Controller on the ground in Afghanistan's Helmand province needs air support. He and his comrades are taking fire from a trench line. * Hundreds of miles away, Capt. Ben Donberg can hear the gunshots. He is the command pilot on the other end of that call. His F-15E Strike Eagle and another, both assets of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base's 4th Fighter Wing, are on their way -- "very, very fast." * Back on the ground, "WIDOW 67" waits. He...

More than 100 British soldiers were forced to wait for six hours on a plane because their uniforms represented a security risk, it has been claimed. The treatment of the soldiers, who were returning from fighting on the front line in Afghanistan for one week's "rest and recuperation", was described by MPs today as "clumsy and insulting" and "outrageous and unacceptable". The Ministry of Defence said that what had happened had clearly been "regrettable". The soldiers' plane had been due to land at the Oxfordshire RAF base Brize Norton but freezing fog forced a diversion to Manchester Airport. Although they...

A BRITISH soldier who almost single-handedly took on 150 Taliban after he and his 50-man convoy were ambushed in Afghanistan has been awarded the Military Cross. Fusilier Damien Hields used his grenade machinegun to destroy seven Taliban positions before his ambushers realised he was their main threat. After peppering his vehicle with bullets, they hit the 24-year-old soldier. He had to be dragged off for treatment by his driver after he tried to continue fighting.

SELDOM has the sacrifice of so many been so sneered at by such a worthless few. Barely a week goes by without one or more brave members of our Armed Forces giving their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan. We at The Sun SALUTE our heroic Boys and Girls – and today declare the ban on them wearing their proud uniforms in public an INSULT. Last night PM Gordon Brown slammed a barmy order that 2,000 RAF personnel must don civvies on a city’s streets to avoid confrontations with “antiwar” thugs. The same cowardly minority of hooligans have spat at and...

Airmen have been told not to leave an RAF base in uniform to avoid being verbally abused by civilians.

Via JWF, first came Birmingham, then came Harrod’s, and now third time’s a charm. Totally, completely, utterly unrelated to today’s Times Square bombing, I’m sure. RAF personnel have been ordered not to wear their uniforms in public after incidents of verbal abuse on the streets… The verbal attacks had come from a “cross-section” of the community, he added, and were believed to be linked to the RAF’s current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.He stressed that the decision to prohibit uniforms in the city was a local one made by station commander Group Captain Atherton after she took advice from RAF...

RAF personnel have been ordered not to wear their uniforms in public after incidents of verbal abuse on the streets. Troops at RAF Wittering in Peterborough have been told to keep a low profile after taking advice from RAF police. The move - which has come to light after a Birmingham man was jailed for planning to kidnap and behead a British Army soldier - was described as a "sad day for the city" by mayor Marion Todd. She said: "I honestly think it's despicable. "It's a sad day for the city and for the country when the RAF can't...

"Good Morning America" co-host Chris Cuomo joked on Monday's show that Britain's Prince Harry "has been over in Afghanistan fighting because he's expendable." Fellow host Robin Roberts appeared somewhat shocked by the comment and sputtered, "What did you say?" Cuomo, who was previewing an ABC special on the royals, didn't back off his assertion and reiterated, "It's true. The reason that Harry is allowed to be in Afghanistan is because he's not the heir to the throne. William's not allowed to be there." -snip-

Despite the british government's concerted effort to preserve the secret, a veteran Taliban field officer claims he was scarcely surprised by the disclosure that Prince Harry was serving with Britain's troops in southern Afghanistan. Fearing that insurgents would specifically target Cornet Wales (the prince's military title) and his fellow soldiers if his presence in the battle zone were publicly revealed, the top British brass did everything possible to prevent leaks about his deployment on Dec. 14 to Helmand province. But talking to newsweek via satellite phone from that region last week, deputy commander Mullah Abdul Karim recalled getting an urgent...

Prince Harry is back in London after a short-lived stint on the frontlines in Afghanistan. The prince was pulled out of the war zone after a media leak blew the cover on his deployment in Afghanistan since December. Second Lieutenant, Prince Harry was welcomed at an airfield outside London by his father Prince Charles and brother Prince William. He returned after serving only 10 weeks with British troops in Afghanistan, after the foreign press leaked news of his secret deployment. The prince is far from happy at being dragged back from the front. ''At the end of the day if...

A British airman has died following a rocket attack on a military base in Basra, southern Iraq. The serviceman, attached to the Royal Air Force's 903 Expeditionary Air Wing, was killed in the attack at about 2130 local time (1830 GMT) on Friday. The serviceman's family has been informed, said the Ministry of Defence. The death takes the number of UK troops killed in Iraq to 175. The last fatality was a member of 1st Battalion The Scots Guards, killed in December. British troops transferred control of Basra province to the Iraqi authorities later the same month, four and a...

Now the world knows Prince Harry is in Afghanistan, the question on many lips is whether it was right for the media to keep quiet about it for so long.

A defiant Prince Harry is flying back to Britain determined to return as soon as possible to front-line duties in Afghanistan. Before he boarded his flight the 23-year-old second Lieutenant in the Household Cavalry was moved from his base, only 500 yards from Taliban enemy lines in the volatile Helmand Province, to a secret and secure location after his presence in Afghanistan was leaked on an American web site. The Prince of Wales and Prince William will meet Prince Harry when he arrives at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Taliban insurgents have threatened to step up attacks on British forces...

He looks more like a film star than a Prince, let alone a serving soldier - but this is Harry enjoying a lighter moment on operation in Afghanistan. Riding a spluttering motorbike, he looks like a boy with a new toy as he careers across the desert, laughing as he goes. "No brakes! No brakes!", the Prince shouts as he digs his heels into the dirt to stop the vehicle, which he had found abandoned moments earlier. Harry, 23, a Cornet - or Second Lieutenant - in the Household Cavalry, has been playing his part in the war on the...