The 7th Division is a division of the

Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the coup ...

. First formed in the 1960s or 1970s, in was reported in 1977–78 to have its headquarters at

Sulaimaniyah Sulaymaniyah, also spelled as Slemani ( ku, سلێمانی, Silêmanî, ar, السليمانية, as-Sulaymāniyyah), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, not far from the Iran–Iraq border. It is surrounded by the Azmar, Go ...

with five brigades (all active). It served in the 1991

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

at the Battle of Kuwait International Airport. In 2002, it was reported to be with the

5th Corps (Iraq) 5th Corps, Fifth Corps, or V Corps may refer to: France * 5th Army Corps (France) * V Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * V Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Ar ...

and comprise the 38th, 39th, and 116th Brigades. It was disbanded in 2003. It was reformed after 2004 and trained by the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. It is now headquartered at

Al Asad Airbase Ayn al Asad is an Iraqi Armed Forces base located in Al Anbar Governorate (also called Anbar province) of western Iraq. It was originally known as Qadisiyah Airbase. It was the second largest US military airbase in Iraq during Operation Iraqi ...

. It played a part in the defeat of

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI; ar, القاعدة في العراق, al-Qā'idah fī al-ʿIrāq) or Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia ( ar, القاعدة في بلاد الرافدين, al-Qā'idah fī Bilād ar-Rāfidayn), officially known as ''Tanzim Qaidat a ...

(AQI) in

Al Anbar Governorate Al Anbar Governorate ( ar, محافظة الأنبار; ''muḥāfaẓat al-’Anbār''), or Anbar Province, is the largest governorate in Iraq by area. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, ...

in 2007. In April 2007 planning was underway to form a fourth brigade for the division. The division was transferred to the

Iraqi Ground Forces Command The Ground Forces Command at Victory Base Complex near Baghdad Airport was the most important fighting formation in the Iraqi Army. The headquarters of the Iraqi Ground Forces Command and the Iraqi Joint Forces Command are the same entity. Since ...

on November 1, 2007. The division's brigades included the 26th Motorized (AAslt) Brigade; the 27th Motorized (AAslt) Brigade; the 28th Motorized Brigade, and the 29th Mechanized Brigade (operational since April 3, 2008). In accordance with the standards of training Iraqi forces the division's brigades or battalions will be committed at all times in other units. This was tested by detaching units of the 7th Division south of Baghdad in early of 2008. The 29th is the last brigade formed in the desert of western Iraq, is based in Rutbah, it may be in line to be equipped with wheeled armour like the 37th or 17th Brigades. In May 2008, the 26th Brigade participated in operations in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

. On 21 December 2013, Major General Mohammed al-Karawi, the Commander of the division, was killed during a security operation in Rutbah against al-Qaeda training camps. In the incident, several suicide bombs had gone off as Karawi was entering a deserted building, killing Karawi alongside several officers, and wounding up to 32 soldiers. More than 60 militants had been in the area at the time. Throughout late 2014 and early 2015, some 320 US advisers trained the troops of the 7th Division, which occasionally engaged in skirmishes with militants of the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(ISIL).7th Division, Iraqi Army
Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved May 25, 2015.

References

External links

{{commonscat * https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/politics/2015/3/15/an-independent-us-base-in-iraqs-ain-al-assad Divisions of Iraq Military units and formations established in 2004