2004 Iraq spring fighting

Iraq Spring Fighting of 2004
Part of the Post-invasion Iraq
File:Story.outside.najaf.tues.5..jpg Iraqi Shiite supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr chant anti-U.S slogans in Najaf
Date April 4, 2004–June 24, 2004 Location Iraq Result Indecisive (Major strategic gains by insurgents, U.S. manages to retain control of at least 60% of the country)
Belligerents
Coalition Forces: United States United Kingdom Australia New Iraqi Army Kurdish forces Multinational forces in Iraq	Insurgent Forces: Ba'ath Loyalists Al-Qaeda in Iraq Mahdi Army Other insurgent groups and militias
Commanders and leaders
John Abizaid	Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Moqtada al-Sadr
Strength
200,000	30,000
Casualties and losses
217 KIA; 1 POW; 2,500 WIA(U.S.) 150 KIA (Iraqi security forces) 16 KIA; 107 WIA (other coalition forces)	1,340 killed 430 captured

The Iraq Spring Fighting of 2004 (April 4, 2004 - June 24, 2004) was a series of operational offensives and various major engagements during the Iraq War.

Prelude

The start of 2004 was marked by a relative lull in violence. Guerrilla attacks were lessened in intensity while insurgent forces reorganized, studying the multinational forces' tactics and planning a renewed offensive.

Causes

One of the two main causes for the Spring Fighting were two events that happened in the city of Fallujah. American troops withdraw from Fallujah after intense fighting on March 26, 2004 (at which point Fallujah had already been declared insurgent-occupied) killed one Marine. The troops retreated to the city's outskirts. Five days later there was the highly-publicized killing and mutilation of four Blackwater private military contractors on March 31, 2004. The four independent contractors were guarding food shipments in Fallujah, Iraq when they were killed in a grenade attack by suspected insurgents. Their corpses were mutilated by cheering crowds. These two events led to the First Battle of Fallujah.
The second catalyst was the rise of a hard-line Shiite cleric called Muqtada al-Sadr and his milita the Mahdi Army in the south of the country.

Action begins

March 28 the U.S. overseer of Iraq, Paul Bremer, ordered the closure of Al-Hawza, a newspaper published by Muqtada al-Sadr’s group. Bremer charged the paper with inciting violence against the occupation. The next day thousands of Iraqis rallied outside the offices of Al-Hawza in support of the newspaper. Upping the ante, Bremer sent occupation troops to al-Sadr’s home and arrested a key aide, Mustafa Yaqubi. That action predictably sparked further protests. On April 2 Spanish troops from the occupation forces fired on demonstrators in Najaf demanding Yaqubi’s release, killing at least 20, according to Al-Jazeera. The same day al-Sadr issued a statement calling on his supporters to stop staging demonstrations “because your enemy prefers terrorism,” reported the Toronto Globe and Mail.

“America has unsheathed its fangs and its despicable intentions, and the conscientious Iraqi people cannot remain silent at all. They must defend their rights in the ways they see fit,” the statement said, according to the Washington Post.

Muqtada al-Sadr had great influence in the Sadr City section of Baghdad which was renamed from Saddam City to Sadr City after the invasion in honor of Sadr's father, who was killed along with two of his brothers allegedly by members of the Iraqi secret service on the orders of Saddam Hussein. Initially supported by Hussein, Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr fell into disfavor as an outspoken opponent of the regime’s repression of the Shia religion. Muqtada al-Sadr created in June of 2003 the Mahdi Army. A day after the statement given by Sadr, violent protests occurred throughout the Shiite south that soon spilled over into a violent uprising by Mahdi Army militiamen, fully underway by April 4, 2004.

The offensive begins

The Mahdi Army forces began an offensive in Najaf, Kufa, Kut, and Sadr City, seizing control of public buildings and police stations while clashing with coalition forces. In Sadr City members of the 1st Cavarly division, which just arived in country, had their first serious firefight with the Mahdy Army. Mahdi rebels expelled Iraqi police from three police stations and ambushed U.S forces in Sadr City, killing nine U.S troops and wounding 51 more.U.S forces subsequently regained control of the police stations after running firefights with the fighters that killed 35 Mahdy Army militiamen. Mahdi Army members still maintained some influence over many of the slum areas of Sadr City, however. The fighting was not only in Sadr City, there was also heavy fighting throughout the month in other parts of Baghdad. The highway linking Baghdad with the western Anbar province was cut by the insurgents and resuplys for the Marines in the province were not beaing able to be sent out unless by helicopter.

The militants gained partial control of Karbala after fighting there. Other coalition forces came under attack in Nasiriyah where two Italian armored vehicles were destroyed, and British forces also came under fire in Amarah and Basra. Najaf and Kufa were quickly seized on April 6, 2004 after a few firefights with Spanish and Salvadoran troops, and Kut was seized on the next day after clashes with Ukrainian troops, mainly on the Tigres river bridge. On the same day that Kut fell Karbala also came under full Mahdy Army control.

File:Story.fallujah.tues.2.jpg

U.S. Marines on watch in Fallujah, April 6 2004.

Main article: First Battle of Fallujah

On the same day, coincidentaly, when the Shia uprising began the offensive against Fallujah started. In response to the killing of the four Americans and intense political pressure, the U.S. Marines commenced Operation Vigilant Resolve. They surrounded the city and attempted to capture the individuals responsible as well as others in the region who might have been involved in insurgency or terrorist activities. The Iraqi National Guard was supposed to work alongside with the U.S. Marines in the operation, but on the dawn of the invasion they all discarded their uniforms and deserted. Heavy fighting lasted until April 9, 2004, when, under enourmus public pressure the offensive was called off because of great civilian losses. By that day the Marines managed to gain only control of about 25 percent of the city.

Main article: Battle of Ramadi (2004)

During the fighting in Anbar there was also a major insurgent attack on the city of Ramadi on April 6, 2004, where they were looking to relieve pressure on Fallujah, by atempting an offensive of there own. In heavy street fighing over four days by April 10, 16 American marines and around 250 insurgents were killed.

Main article: Battle of Husaybah

Aside the Battle of Ramadi there was also another insurgent attack on the town of Husaybah on the Siryan border on April 17, 2004, where, like in Ramadi they attacked the Marine garison there and again were repulsed, with 5 Marines and 150 insurgents killed.

After sporadic clashes, Coalition forces temporarily suppressed most militia activity in Nasiriyah, Amarah, and Basra. On April 16, Kut was retaken by US forces, and several dozen Mahdi Army members were killed in the battle. However, the area around Najaf and Kufa along with Karbala remained under the control of Sadr's forces. Sadr himself was believed holed up inside Najaf. Coalition troops put a cordon around Najaf with 2500 troops, but reduced the number of forces to pursue negotiations with Mahdi Army. At the beginning of May, coalition forces estimated that there were 200-500 militants still present in Karbala, 300-400 in Diwaniyah, an unknown number still left in Amarah and Basra, and 1,000-2,000 still holed up in the Najaf-Kufa region.

Meanwhile the occupying force in Fallujah on April 9 allowed more than 70,000 women, children and elderly residents to leave the besieged city, reportedly also allowing males of military age to leave. On April 10, the U.S. military declared a unilateral truce to allow for humanitarian supplies to enter Fallujah. U.S. troops pulled back to the outskirts of the city. Local sheikhs and imams refused to honor the cease-fire agreement, repeatedly sending mujahideen warriors to attack the Marines. In violation of the Geneva Convention the city's main hospital was closed by marines, negating its use, and a sniper was placed on top of the hospital's water tower. There were also numerous reports of the use of cluster bombs by American forces in Fallujah during this time. The U.S. forces sought to negotiate a settlement but promised to restart its offensive to retake the city if one was not reached. Military commanders said their goal in the siege was to capture those responsible for the numerous deaths of American and Iraqi security personnel. As the siege continued, even though U.S. Marines were under a unilateral ceasefire, insurgents continued to conduct hit-and-run attacks on U.S. Marine positions. It was also reported the Marines wanted a ceasefire because they were not beaing resuplyed after the insurgents captured the main highway from Baghdad to Anbar. On May 1, 2004 U.S. forces withdrew compleatly from the city and control of the city was turned over to the Fallujah brigade which was under control of a former Saddam general. But the brigade soon allied itself with the insurgents and the city was under insurgent control. Betwean 731 and 800 Iraqis were killed during the siege of the city, at least 184 of them insurgents, and at least 27 American Marines also died. Soon afterwards many towns in Anbar province like: Karabila, Sada, Romania, Ubaydi, Haklaniya, Hit, Baghdadi, Haditha and numeres smaller vilages came under insurgent control.

File:Iraqi insurgents celebrate while riding through the streets of Falluja, May 1, 2004.jpg

Iraqi militants celebrating orders being given to the surrounding Coalition forces to stand down, Fallujah, May 1 2004.

On April 9, 2004, an American fuel convoy came under attack near the Baghdad International Airport. In what was described as a 5-mile long ambush, the 26-vehicle serial was pummeled by gunfire, mortar rounds and RPGs, disabling many of the civilian fuel tankers and Army vehicles. A total of 12 people from the convoy were killed: 2 American soldiers, 7 American private truck drivers and 3 Iraqi truck drivers. Another five American soldiers and 3 American truck drivers were wounded. Almost the entire convoy was destroyed. The number of insurgent casualties in the ambush is unknown. One American soldier, Pfc.Keith Matthew Maupin, was captured along with truck driver Thomas Hamill. Hamill managed to escape from his captors on May 2, 2004. The body of one of the drivers, Timothy Bell, was never recovered. Maupin was reported executed with a gunshot to the head on June 28, 2004. His body was also never recovered and he is still listed as missing-captured.

On May 4, coalition forces began a counter-offensive to eliminate Mahdi Army in southern Iraq following a breakdown in negotiations. The first wave began with simultaneous raids in Karbala and Diwaniyah on militia forces, followed by a second wave on May 5 in Karbala and more attacks that seized the governor's office in Najaf on May 6. 86 militiamen were estimated killed in the fighting along with 4 U.S soldiers. Several high ranking Militia commanders were also killed in a separate raid by US Army Special Operations units. On May 8, U.S forces launched a follow-up offensive into Karbala, launching a two-pronged attack into the city. U.S tanks also launched an incursion into Sadr City. At the same time, perhaps as a diversionary tactic, hundreds of Mahdi Army insurgents swept through Basra, firing on British patrols and seizing parts of the city. 2 militants were killed and several British troops were wounded.

On May 24, after suffering heavy losses in weeks of fighting, Mahdi Army forces withdrew from the city of Karbala. This left the only area still under their firm control being the Najaf-Kufa region, also under sustained American assault. Several hundred Mahdi Army rebels in total were killed (according to both the US Military, and various news agencies.) in clashes with the far better trained and equipped American forces. Unfazed by the fighting, Moqtada al-Sadr regularly gave Friday sermons in Kufa throughout the uprising.

On May 30, American forces withdrew from the city of Samara, north of Baghdada, and encircled the city. Insurgents took full control and on the same day also took control of Latifiya and Yusifiya south of Baghdad efectivly cutting Highway one betwen Baghdad and Karbala, thus the Americans rerouted trafic on to Highway 8 to maintain contact to the south of the country.

On June 6, 2004, Moqtada al-Sadr issued an announcement directing Mahdi Army to cease operations in Najaf and Kufa. But the fighting in the south continued until June 24, 2004. Ironicly, just as the Shia and Suni offensives started together on the same day they ended the same day. On the same day that the fighting ended in the south, in the Suni teritories a massive coordinated attack by insurgents was under way. In six cities: Ramadi, Baghdad, Mahmudia, Baquba and Mosul attacks were underway. In Baghdad a suicide bomber killed four Iraqi soldiers while in Mosul it was the most blodiest. Four suicide bombers killed 56 civilians, 8 Iraqi policemen and 2 American soldiers. But the most intense fighting was in Baquba where with precise and strategic attack the insurgents attacked and took control of the main police station and city hall and burned down the home of the police chief. American and Iraqi troops withdrew from the city but after a few hours American bombers hit insurgent positions in the city at city hall, the police station and at the football stadion. After that the American forces returned in to the city without any resistance. The only gain by the insurgents on this day was in Ramadi where insurgent forces managed to take control and laid siege to Marine bunker positions. The city was under insurgent control by the end of the day.

Aftermath

In total, the United States estimated that around 1,340 Suni and Shia fighters were killed. The USA, Iraq, and allied forces suffered 383 killed and around 2,500 American soldiers were wounded during this period. Around 430 Iraqi insurgents were captured. The results of the battle were indecisive. Most of Anbar province (including Ramadi and Fallujah) as well as some Suni teritory north and south of Baghdad, including Samara, were effectively left under insurgent control. The United States forces managed to maintain control of Baghdad and other major cities in the Shia south as well as some in the north. Another uprising of the Mahdy Army occured a month and a half later and that time a more bloodier battle for the city of Najaf unfolded. Also in November the Second Battle of Fallujah will occur which will leave 95 percent of the city in ruins.