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A coalition of moderate rebel factions known as the Southern Front took control of the Brigade 52 base by early afternoon, spokesman Issam al-Reis said. Brigade 52 is the largest military installation in Daraa province, which borders Jordan, and is key to the defense of northern routes leading to the Syrian capital, Damascus... The loss of the base is another blow to Assad's forces, which have recently suffered a string of battlefield defeats. A largely Islamist rebel alliance that includes al-Qaeda's powerful Syria affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, has seized most of northwestern Idlib province. The Islamic State militant group has captured...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, June 30, 2009 – In accordance with Article 5 of the security agreement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments, Iraqi security forces now have full ownership of security in their cities, towns and villages. Army Capt. Rich Turvey, commander of 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, signs over Joint Security Station Salaam to Iraqi army 1st Lt. Jassim Abbas at a transfer ceremony near Numaniyah, Iraq, June 20, 2009. In accordance with the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, Iraqi security forces took full ownership of security in their cities, towns and villages on June 30, 2009. U.S....

WASHINGTON, May 27, 2009 – Southern Iraq is “a much better place to live and raise a family than it was a year ago,” thanks to tremendous strides in security, governance, job opportunity and essential services, the commander of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team said today. Army Col. Philip Battaglia described two major lines of progress he’s seen since his “Long Knife Brigade” arrived at Multinational Division South last year: one focused on security and the other, on local government. “The Iraqi security forces have developed into a professional, lethal force, capable of independently securing their citizens...

NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AFP) — The 550-strong Australian contingent in Iraq withdrew from its bases in the south of the country on Sunday as most of the troops prepared to head home, Iraqi and Australian officials said. The soldiers left following a flag-lowering ceremony at the Imam Ali airbase west of the city of Nasiriyah, the capital of Dhi Qar province, governor Aziz Kadoum Alwan said. "The Australian soldiers left today from Dhi Qar and Muthanna provinces," Alwan said. In Sydney the Australian Defence Force said in a statement that the "Overwatch Battle Group and the Australian army training team formally...

Among the worst mistakes of the Iraq war has been starting battles we weren't prepared to finish. Think Fallujah in 2004. We hope Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki absorbed that lesson before he began his campaign last week to defeat rogue militias in Basra. Yesterday's political maneuvering amid a new cease-fire offer by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is hard to read from afar. "Anyone carrying a weapon and targeting government institutions will not be one of us," Mr. Sadr said. The government welcomed the offer while saying it would continue its Basra campaign, and it wasn't clear how many in...

The continuing military operations in the oil hub Basra have slowed down Iraq's crude-oil production and exports from southern oil fields, an Iraqi official with the South Oil Company and a shipping agent said Thursday. Meanwhile, a bomb Thursday struck the key Zubair-1 crude pipeline -- the largest pipeline to the Basra export terminal -- and will likely affect exports "heavily," the South Oil Company official said.

KUT, Iraq - American commanders in southern Iraq say Shiite sheiks are showing interest in joining forces with the U.S. military against extremists, in much the same way that Sunni clansmen in the western part of the country have worked with American forces against al-Qaida. Sheik Majid Tahir al-Magsousi, the leader of the Migasees tribe here in Wasit province, acknowledged tribal leaders have discussed creating a brigade of young men trained by the Americans to bolster local security as well as help patrol the border with Iran. He also said last week's assassination of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, who spearheaded the...

The British are withdrawing from Basra, leaving it to mercy of the Shiite militias. Because they are embarrassed, UK General Michael Jackson (who has a book to sell), is now trashing the Bush Administration in public.    It's just another sunny day in the NATO neighborhood. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is supposed to be a mutual defense treaty. That has been conveniently forgotten for the last several decades by Europe, where NATO simply came down to Uncle Sam assuming Europe's defense while the locals mostly went on a long, long welfare vacation -- and suicidally imported millions of Jihad supporters to...

US ready to move into Basra as British pull out By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 2:29pm BST 31/08/2007 The Pentagon has warned it will deploy US forces to Basra if a rapid drawdown of British troops jeopardises security in southern Iraq. The American military is known to harbour concerns over the security of the oilfields that are Iraq's only source of oil exports and its supply lines along the north-south highway, known as Route Tampa, in the event the British troop presence is wound up. UK forces have been unable to prevent turmoil Although American army units...

US general blames Britain for Basra crisis By Thomas Harding and Toby Helm Last Updated: 1:26am BST 23/08/2007 The first sign of serious tension between Gordon Brown and President George W Bush over Iraq have emerged as a senior US general said the withdrawal of British troops was creating a security crisis in the south of the country. Gen Jack Keane, who is close to the White House and was the architect of the American troop "surge" in Baghdad this year, said the policy was helping to turn Basra into a city of "gangland warfare". Gen Keane: British withdrawal is...

US officials claim Britain's failure in Iraq could squander the progress of America's troop surge, and have long-lasting implications. When America's top commanders in Iraq held a conference with their British counterparts recently, Major General Jonathan Shaw - Britain's senior officer in Basra - was quick to share his views on how best to conduct counter-insurgency operations. For much of the last four years, the Americans in the room would have listened carefully, used to deferring to their British colleagues' long experience in Northern Ireland. This time, however, eyes that would once have been attentive simply rolled. Few were in...

In the stifling heat the klaxon blasts out its warning. All around off-duty soldiers drop what they’re doing and dive to the ground, ramming helmets on their heads and struggling into body armour. At the British base in Basra airport, the klaxon means only one thing: incoming rockets. For long seconds the soldiers hug the ground, waiting for the explosion, hoping it won’t be them. “[There’s] no overhead protection,” said one officer in an e-mail. “So if you are unlucky, then nothing is going to save you.” The blast hits and the soldiers dash for concrete bunkers, or anywhere offering...

America is preparing to pour thousands of extra troops into southern Iraq amid fears that Gordon Brown is committed to withdrawing British troops from the region early next year. The White House and the Pentagon are understood to have drawn up detailed plans to secure the vital "umbilical cord" link road between Baghdad and Kuwait when the British depart. Washington is also concerned that a British pull-out will leave the border with Iran undefended, as well as undermining US operations at a time when political pressure is mounting for an American withdrawal. Tensions are understood to have deepened between London...

We've come a long way from the 2003 British lectures about American obtrusive ray-bans and Kevlar losing what British soft hats and smiles had won. That quote about defeat from "a senior U.S. official" about the British withdrawal from southern Iraq is probably accurate, but it belongs to a larger, more disturbing context: (1) the popular British anger at the U.S. (whether evidenced by the "poodle" slur or the latest Pew poll finding that a bare majority of British subjects approves of the U.S.); (2) a growing acknowledgement of British weakness and appeasement, as exemplified not just by the escape...

A FORMER military commander said today British forces in Basra face a stark choice to curb the rising death toll - either retake the city or abandon it. Colonel Bob Stewart, who led British forces in Bosnia, said casualties were mounting because the Army was not able to “dominate the ground”, which was allowing insurgents to operate in the area. He said: “Either we retake control of that ground so that people can’t, for example, rocket the Basra base or put an improvised explosive device at very short notice on to a route that one of our strike forces is...

It was either remarkable marksmanship or a fluke. Private Craig Barber was killed by a single shot through a crack in the driver’s hatch of his Warrior armoured fighting vehicle, open against the sweltering heat of the Basra night. He died immediately, hit in the head. But because the Warrior had its engine running and the vehicle was stationary, no one realised that he had been killed. It was a further quarter of an hour before Private Barber’s Warrior commander gave word to move and, puzzled by his driver’s silence, jumped down to see what had befallen him.... Private Barber’s...

As British forces pull back from Basra in southern Iraq, Shiite militias there have escalated a violent battle against each other for political supremacy and control over oil resources, deepening concerns among some U.S. officials in Baghdad that elements of Iraq's Shiite-dominated national government will turn on one another once U.S. troops begin to draw down. Three major Shiite political groups are locked in a bloody conflict that has left the city in the hands of militias and criminal gangs, whose control extends to municipal offices and neighborhood streets. The city is plagued by "the systematic misuse of official institutions,...

British forces failed in Basra, says US official By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 2:56pm BST 07/08/2007 A senior US intelligence official in Baghdad has said British forces lost control of Basra by pulling out troops too quickly. British commanders are preparing to hand over Basra Palace to the Iraqi army later this month The result has been a security vacuum which has allowed the city's religious, tribal and criminal factions battle it out for control of the streets. "The British have basically been defeated in the south," the intelligence official told the Washington Post. In a report...

British forces in Basra, blamed for a host of ills from militia turf wars to rising Iranian influence, are being held responsible for the latest danger to strike the city – a plague of giant man-eating badgers. For weeks, the southern Iraqi city has been abuzz with talk of a bear-like monster stalking the suburbs and attacking livestock and humans alike. The appearance of the beasts close to the British military base at the airport has sparked rumours that soldiers released them to terrify the populace. [ snip ] — Prey includes jackals, antelope and foxes, crocodiles and snakes

BASRAH — In an upbeat assessment General Ali Hamadi, Head of the Basrah Emergency Security Committee, has voiced his growing confidence in the Province's security situation and the capability of the Iraqi Security Forces as they assume greater security responsibility and moves towards Provincial Iraqi Control. At a press conference held jointly with Brigadier Tim Evans MBE, Commander 19 Light Brigade, at General Hamadi's headquarters, the Provincial Joint Coordination Centre, in the centre of Basra City, General Hamadi praised the significant progress made to date, but admitted more needed to be done. "I will not say to you there is...