Mahmoudiyah, Iraq
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Mahmoudiyah () (also transliterated Al-Mahmudiyah, Al-Mahmoudi, or Al-Mahmudiya, prefixed usually with Al-) is a rural city south of
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
. Known as the "Gateway to Baghdad," the city's proximity to Baghdad made it central to the counterinsurgency campaign. Al-Mahmudiya has approximately 350,000 inhabitants, most of whom are
Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
Arabs Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...
, over 75% of Al-Mahmudiya are Sunni, as reported by the
UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...
IDPs list. While the control of rural areas around the area of Mahmudiyah is by Sunnis, such as the towns of
Latifiyah Latifiya (), named after Latifiya river, is an Iraqi town south of Baghdad, between Mahmoudiyah and Iskandariya, inhabited originally by 97,043 people. It has a mix of Sunni and Shia Muslim population, and surrounded by in the west and the east ...
and
Yusufiyah Yusufiyah (; also transliterated as Yusafiyah, Youssifiyah or Yusifiyah, occasionally prefixed with Al-) is a regional township in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq. Background Yusufiyah is named after Yūsuf (Joseph). It is about south of Baghd ...
, the
Shiites Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...
remain in the center of Mahmoudiyah city.


US invasion of Iraq 2003, Battle of Mahmoudiyah

On April 13, 2003, elements of 3rd Platoon, A Co., 3/502 Infantry,
101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinat ...
(AASLT), accompanied by a Pathfinder Team (101st ABN), a mobile heavy weapons support team (D Co. 3/502 INF), and OH-58's from the
101st Combat Aviation Brigade The 101st Combat Aviation Brigade is the Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division. It was first organized in July 1968 as an aviation group and stands as the most decorated aviation unit in the United Stat ...
moved to conduct clearance operations in Mahmoudiyah, Iraq. 3rd Platoon moved from the north to south through town clearing all government structures and securing arms and ammunition that were left by Iraqi Military and Paramilitary elements. After detonating a large ordinance cache inside a buried bunker at the City Center Office, 3rd PLT was instructed to move all ordinance outside of town for further disposal due to falling debris hazard. Support Vehicles were reallocated and the 3rd PLT continued dismounted patrols through town in search of arms caches and any lingering paramilitary forces. 3rd PLT moved on the
Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology ...
Headquarters in the town. Upon entering the structure, a large cache of mortar and
RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
ammunition was secured. The platoon began loading the ordinance in a
HMMWV The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of Military light utility vehicle, light, four-wheel drive Military vehicle#Military trucks, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It ...
and secured the site. Gun Trucks from D Co., 3/502 INF, positioned themselves on the street outside the complex. The townspeople started to congregate in the intersection outside the building. Starting with a few and then building into nearly a thousand, the intersection was packed forcing the D Co. Soldiers to be surrounded and stranded in their vehicles. 3rd PLT, A Co., did not have enough Soldiers on the ground to clear the intersection without undue escalation, so they pulled back into the walls of the Ba'ath Headquarters and continued to wait for the ordinance to be loaded. At some point, the Iraqi flag was lowered from the flagpole of the complex. Civilians, dismayed, began throwing rocks and other items periodically. Unknown to Coalition Forces, Syrian Paramilitary forces, hired by
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
to harass Invasion Forces, were still operating in the town. When US Forces had entered the town, the Insurgents had begun forcing residents out of their homes towards the US Forces. A Syrian Fighter threw a hand grenade over the walls into the complex and it landed amongst the 3rd PLT Leadership Huddle that momentarily met up to discuss the next objective in town. Upon detonation, more Syrian Fighters began shooting from alleys and windows into the complex. 3rd Platoon moved wounded into the building and began treating casualties while engaging hostile forces. Soldiers moved under fire to gain superior positions and fire superiority. Paramilitary forces were eliminated or pushed back while US Forces lacked the numbers to pursue them into town without undue risk. The wounded were evacuated without deaths due the extraordinary heroism of the Battalion Surgeon and senior Medic whom drove through town under intense fire in an unarmored FLA from the Battalion Tactical Command Post north of town. 3rd Platoon eliminated all fighters preventing safe
MEDEVAC Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to patients requiring evacuation or transport using medically equipped air ambulances, helicopters an ...
and secured several landing zones as MEDEVAC aviation had difficulty finding safe sites to land. With the seriously wounded evacuated, sporadic fighting continued as paramilitary forces harassed the coalition perimeter and area of control. 3rd Platoon continued to move on the insurgents but lacked the manpower to move without risking being spread detrimentally thin across the entire town. Fighting continued throughout the night in sporadic bouts. 3rd Platoon was reenforced by the remainder of A Co. Early in the morning of the 14th, Insurgents attempted to drive a VBIED into the Ba'ath building. The VBIED was stopped by a machine gun team before it could cause any more casualties. This signaled the end of insurgent efforts to harass US Forces. The following morning, 14 April 2003, A Co. was directed out of Mahmoudiyah and elements of Army Civil Affairs and other units were deployed to work with community leaders to assess damages and plan for stability and support operations. This incident can be linked to the history of Coalition Operations that led to the regression of relations with the people of Mahmoudiyah.


War crime incident

During the
Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
, a
war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
took place in Mahmudiyah on March 12, 2006, in which five soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi (an Iraqi Sunni Arab girl) and then murdered her, after killing her father Qassim Hamza Raheem, her mother Fakhriya Taha Muhasen and her six-year-old sister Hadeel Qassim Hamza al-Janabi. The soldiers then burned the bodies to conceal evidence of the crime. Four of the soldiers were convicted of rape and murder, and the fifth was convicted of lesser crimes.


Civil infrastructure

Efforts have been conducted into rebuilding the city. The current mayor (as of January 2007) is Muayid Fadil Hussein Habib.


Notable people

* Fadhil Abbas al-Ka'bi, (1950) writer and poet * Ibrahim Jassam, local journalist detained by US & Iraqi coalition forces from 2008 to 2010.


See also

* Triangle of Death (Iraq)


References


External links


San Diego Union Tribune
article about Marines in Al-Mahmoudiyah.
Map
of Al-Mahmudiyah from multimap.com.
Army article
about the Al-Buhaira Elementary School remodeling project in Mahmudiyah from March 2006.
Stars and Stripes
article from February 2006 by Andrew Tilghman about militia vs. militia violence in Al-Mahmudiyah.
A video
from March 2006 (fro
Chris Brewer
who was in the Air Force in the 206th Broadcast Operations Detachment, American Forces Network) of Al-Mahmoudiyah's city center. {{Districts of Iraq Populated places in Baghdad Province District capitals of Iraq