Operation Peninsula Strike was a series of raids conducted by American troops from 9 to 13 June 2003 as part of

Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

, carried out by members of

Task Force Ironhorse The 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team ("Thunderbird") is a modular infantry brigade combat team of the United States Army headquartered in Norman, Oklahoma. It is a part of the Oklahoma Army National Guard. The 45th Infantry Brigade was forme ...

on a peninsula alongside the

Tigris River The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...

near

Balad, Iraq Balad ( ar, بلد), also transliterated ''Beled'' or ''Belad'', is a city in Saladin Governorate, Iraq, north of the national capital, Baghdad. It is the capital of Balad District. Located between the towns of Al Dhuluiya, Yathrib and Ishaqi, B ...

. In the operation US forces sought to target members of the

Ba'ath Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection"Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation a ...

Party, paramilitary, and subversive units. Specifically, US Forces were to hit five objectives simultaneously, detain the targets and screen them for intelligence.

The operation

Attacking from helicopters, small boats and in armored vehicles, American forces set up road blocks and began a large raid with a force of over 1,000 soldiers, who quickly captured 397 suspects. Among those who were targeted for capture were two persons on the 'Most Wanted List': Major General Abul Ali Jasmin, the former Minister of Defense, and Brigadier General Abdullah Ali Jasmin, former head of the military academy. However, none of the targets were at the locations attacked. Of the 397 initially detained, most were released within days of the operation. On the last day of the operation, a force of Iraqi insurgents attacked a patrol from the 4th Infantry Division, which was involved in the operation. The insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at the 4th Infantry Division tank patrol. The tanks returned fire, killing four attackers and forcing the others to flee. Later, backed by Apache helicopters, the U.S. forces pursued the remaining attackers, killing another 23. Numerous weapons caches were seized. Nance, Malcolm W., '' The Terrorists of Iraq: Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraq Insurgency 2003-2014'', CRC Press, 2014

Units involved

Included elements of the: *3d Brigade, U.S. 4th Infantry Division *

173d Airborne Brigade The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers") is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic response force for Eu ...

*3d Squadron,

U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment The 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment formed in 1866. Its official nickname is "Garryowen", after the Irish air " Garryowen" that was adopted as its march tune. The regiment participated in some of the largest ba ...

, 3d Infantry Division *1st Battalion, U.S. 8th Infantry Regiment *

720th Military Police Battalion The 720th Military Police Battalion is a military police battalion of the United States Army based at Fort Hood, Texas. It is a subordinate unit under the Training and Readiness Authority of the 89th Military Police Brigade. Constituted on 10 Janu ...

* 57th Aviation Battalion * 159th Aviation Battalion *2d Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment *elements from 104th Military Intelligence Battalion, U.S. 4th Infantry Division *elements from 519th Military Intelligence Battalion

References

Global Security: Operation Peninsula Strike
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Peninsula Strike Military operations of the Iraq War involving the United States Military operations of the Iraq War in 2003 Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)

The operation

Units involved

See also

References