The Ramadan Offensive refers to the attacks mounted by insurgents in Iraq during the holy Muslim month of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

in 2006, three years after the original

Ramadan Offensive Ramadan Offensive may refer to: *Ramadan Offensive (2003) The Ramadan Offensive was a series of insurgent attacks against Coalition and Iraqi military targets from the end of October and during much of November 2003. The attacks are called the ...

. Among the targets were U.S., Iraqi and other Coalition military targets, but many civilians were also killed by death squads. Most of the civilian killings was conducted by the

Mahdi Army The Peace Companies ( ar, سرايا السلام, or Saraya al Salam) are an Iraqi armed group linked to Iraq's Shia community. They are a 2014 revival of the Mahdi Army ( ''Jaysh al-Mahdī'') that was created by the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada a ...

who were seeking to purge the Sunni population of Baghdad. The offensive coincided with a Coalition operation called Together Forward which was to significantly reduce the violence in Baghdad which had seen a sharp uprise since the mid-February 2006 bombing of the Askariya Mosque, a major Shia Muslim shrine, in

Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...

. However, the operation failed. Moreover, the insurgents managed take control of more than 80 percent of Baghdad. Also insurgents made huge gains in the western Al Anbar and southern Babil province, forcing Coalition and Iraqi security forces from many towns and cities. This period also saw the battle of Amarah, during which rogue Mahdi Army fighters fought with the police, who were members of the Badr Organisation, for control of the southern city of Amarah.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramadan Offensive 2 Military operations of the Anbar campaign (2003–2011) Military operations of the Iraq War involving the United States Military operations of the Iraq War involving Iraq Military operations of the Iraq War in 2006 Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011) Ramadan September 2006 events in Iraq October 2006 events in Iraq