Operation Desert Lion began on 27 March 2003. Soldiers from the U.S.

505th Parachute Infantry Regiment The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (505th PIR), originally the 505th Infantry Regiment, is an airborne infantry regiment of the United States Army, one of four infantry regiments of the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army, with ...

and

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

launched the operation in the Kohe Safi Mountains and surrounding areas in the

Kandahar province Kandahār ( ps, ; Kandahār, prs, ; ''Qandahār'') is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sharing a border with Pakistan, to the south. It is surrounded by Helmand in the west, Uruzgan ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, near Bagram Air Base. Their mission was to hunt for supplies and members of the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

and

Al-Qaida Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countri ...

. The action began with soldiers debouching from Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters. The soldiers found two caches of weapons that included 107mm rockets, mortar rounds, recoilless rocket rounds, and cases of machine-gun ammunition just five kilometers from the air base. Disposal experts blew up the caches in place.

Combined Joint Task Force 180 Combined Joint Task Force 180 was a provisional multinational land formation, primarily made up of units from the United States Army, that fought in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), especially in the initial invasion phase of 2001-2002. It w ...

spokeswoman Capt. Alayne Cramer said coalition troops had searched the area before. "Intelligence sources and tips from local Afghans suggested we revisit the area," Cramer said. On 29 March 2003 forces engaged in Operation Desert Lion received air support from two Norwegian F-16 fighter bombers flying on a routine patrol over the area. Operation Desert Lion was concluded on 30 March 2003.

References

2003 in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) March 2003 events in Asia Military operations of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) involving the United States {{US-mil-operation-stub