Operation Gaugamela
Operation Gaugamela | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
New Iraqi Army |
Other Iraqi insurgents | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Abboud Qanbar David Petraeus | unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
3000 | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None | None |
Without a single shot being fired, more than 3,000 members of the
.Operation details
Following a request from local
"This was the first time the Iraqi's in our area have self-sustained during an operation," said Captain Krista Jekielek, the Bastogne Brigade's logistics representative to the Iraqi security forces. "It was a significant validation, showing they are capable of moving the necessary personnel and supplies required to perform their mission."
Once the Iraqis had completed their searches and attention was drawn to the areas southwest of Kirkuk, operations quickly shifted to the Hawija and Riyadh areas.
"It was my intent to disrupt insurgent operations and to deny them sanctuary in these communities," explained Colonel David R. Gray, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team. "To do this, we made it look as though we were focused on the south, and then used the element of surprise to help us clear and control the areas to the north."
A combined U.S. and Iraqi force simultaneously set a security perimeter on the city of Hawija, preventing escape, while more U.S. and Iraqi forces air assaulted from nine
"The folks in Hawija were taken completely by surprise," said Major Scott Jones, an operations officer for the Bastogne Brigade. "You could see them scattering in all directions. They were running to get inside buildings, and jumping in cars to try and get out of the city."
As the combined teams of Iraqi soldiers and police searched alongside Bastogne Soldiers,
In addition to taking terrorists and weapons off the street, the discipline of the Soldiers involved in the mission truly stands out, according to Maj. Greg Bishop, a 1st BCT spokesman.
"The Iraqi and coalition Soldiers went into the two most contentious cities in the Kirkuk province, searched hundreds of homes and buildings and detained more than 150 suspects with no violence what so ever," Bishop said. "That's an incredible success and true measure of the professionalism of everyone involved in this operation."
Participating units
American units
- 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division
Iraqi units
- Iraqi security forces (ISF)
- 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division
- 18th Strategic Infrastructure Battalion (SIB)
See also
- History of Iraq
- Iraq Body Count project
- Iraq Insurgency
- Iraq War
- List of bombings during the Iraq War
- List of coalition military operations of the Iraq War
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Terrorism
- United States military casualties of war
- Violence against academics in post-invasion Iraq
References