Operation Viking Hammer
| date | 28-30 March 2003 |
|---|---|
| place | Area around Halabja , Kurdistan / Iraq |
| output | Coalition Forces Victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
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| Troop strength | |
| 600–800 fighters | 7,000 Kurdish Peshmerga ~ 40 Americans |
| losses | |
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Operation Viking Hammer was a military operation in the Iraq war that took place in 2003 in the border area between Kurdistan and Iraq. The aim of this operation was to crush the radical terrorist organization Ansar al-Islam , which had occupied parts of northern Iraq.
background
Ansar al-Islam was an Islamist terrorist organization that first appeared in northern Iraq in December 2001. The group consisted of Kurdish-Islamist rebels and Arab Afghanistan veterans. Between 2001 and 2003 they fought against Kurdish units in Northern Iraq and established an occupation zone around the city of Halabja . The American secret service CIA also suspected Ansar al-Islam of building chemical warfare agents.
After Turkey refused to use its territory as a deployment region for an invasion of the US-led coalition troops in northern Iraq, a specially assembled "task force" had to reach Kurdistan and northern Iraq from the air. For this purpose, USASFC and the 173rd Airborne Brigade were brought into the region by airplanes and in a parachute jump in order to reunite with Kurdish Peshmerga units. To do this, the Halabja region occupied by Ansar al-Islam first had to be conquered. Before beginning the attack south, Coalition forces first needed to destroy Ansar al-Islam 's enclave in order to secure the Kurdish rear areas and free Kurdish forces to take part in the advance southwards.
Course of the fighting
Ansar-al-Islam fighters had previously taken up tactically favorable mountain positions in the region in order to be able to better manage and coordinate their own forces. However, this made these positions more vulnerable and difficult to defend during air strikes. On March 21, the Americans therefore began to attack these positions with targeted air strikes and the use of cruise missiles . Since the units of the Task Force Viking were not yet fully in the region, the original plan to continue the attack with ground troops could not be implemented.
On the eve of the operation, the Islamic Community in Kurdistan , a group allied with Ansar al-Islam, surrendered after the massive air strikes of March 21, after over a hundred fighters were killed.
It was not until March 28, 2003 that units of the Kurdish allies began to attack the Ansar al-Islam areas with the support of teams (ODA) of the US Army Special Forces. On the morning of March 28, Kurdish units attacked from the south and encountered massive resistance. Using close air support , the Allies succeeded in driving Ansar al-Islam fighters from their defensive positions and taking them prisoner in the city of Gulp . Other large parts of the Ansar al-Islam fled to the city of Sargat .
In an attempt to advance further on the city of Sargat, Kurds and Americans encountered fierce resistance and were only able to drive the Ansar al-Islam fighters out of the city by using artillery and snipers. On the evening of March 28, fighting broke out in the mountains surrounding the city of Sargat after parts of the Viking Task Force pursued the evasive enemy. The Americans again used close air support to destroy the positions of the Islamist fighters. On March 29, the Viking Task Force and its Kurdish allies continued to pursue the remaining Ansar al-Islam fighters towards the Iranian border. These either fled to Iran or were captured by Kurdish units.
Result of the operation
Operation Viking Hammer smashed the Ansar al-Islam group in northern Iraq, thus creating the conditions for Kurdish units to support the fight against Iraqi troops together with the US-led coalition in the invasion of Iraq. Three commandos of the US Army Special Forces were awarded the Silver Star for their service in the battles around Sargat .
Ansar al-Islam later regrouped and participated in the uprising against the foreign occupation forces in Iraq.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Masters of Chaos, Chapter 13 p. 7 ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 184 kB)
- ↑ a b c Masters of Chaos, Chapter 13 ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 184 kB)
- ↑ http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1016/p12s01-woiq.htm
- ↑ Surrogate Warfare: The Role of US Army Special Forces - MAJ Isaac J. Peltier, US Army - p. 35 ( Memento of the original from February 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The rise and fall of Ansar al-Islam - Christian Science Monitor
- ↑ Masters of Chaos, Chapter 13 p. 28 ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 184 kB)
- ↑ Masters of Chaos, Chapter 13 p. 28 ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 184 kB)
- ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2004/onpoint/ch-5.htm
- ↑ Masters of Chaos, Chapter 13 p. 17-18 ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 184 kB)
- ↑ Masters of Chaos, Chapter 13 p. 19-24 ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 184 kB)
- ^ The rise and fall of Ansar al-Islam - Christian Science Monitor
- ↑ Masters of Chaos, Chapter 13 p. 27–28 ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 184 kB)
