2008 Nineveh campaign

In mid-October 2006, al-Qaeda announced the creation of Islamic State of Iraq (ISI),[1] replacing the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) and its Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).

The capital of Ninawa province, Mosul, forms the northern tip of the "Sunni Triangle" and lies on a sectarian fault line between Sunni Arabs and Kurds. Before the Iraq War, it was a Ba'ath party stronghold and a major source of officers for the Iraqi Army. The U.S. 4th Infantry Division was originally tasked with entering northern Iraq through Turkey, however the Turkish government blocked the attempt. Instead, 2,000 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade and 1,000 U.S. Special Forces soldiers from the 10th Special Forces group opened a smaller front from Kurdistan, working with the Kurdish Peshmerga to secure Kirkuk and Mosul. As a result, the U.S. forces did not have a large military presence in Ninawa following the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime. In early April 2003, the 173rd Airborne launched Operation Option North to secure Kirkuk and its nearby oilfields. Meanwhile, U.S. Special Forces and Peshmerga turned towards Mosul, securing the city on April 11 after the Iraqi Army V Corps surrendered. Despite efforts by the Special Forces commander, Lt. Col. Waltemeyer to keep Kurdish forces out of the city, Mosul fell into chaos with armed Kurds looting the city and forcing Arabs out of homes. At the same time, former Ba'athists and Iraqi military personnel fled south to Tikrit and began to form the insurgency. By the end of the first week of American occupation of Mosul, 31 Iraqis had been killed and 150 wounded.[2]

Towards the end of April, 20,000 soldiers from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, led by Maj. Gen. David Petraeus arrived in Mosul and assumed responsibility for Ninawa province.[3]

In January 2004, 8,700 soldiers of the 3rd SBCT/2nd Infantry Division replaced the 101st Airborne, effectively halving the number of U.S. soldiers. Ethnic tensions in Mosul grew, with the Sunni Arabs and the insurgents occupying the west side of Mosul and the Kurds occupying the east side. The situation worsed in October 2004 when the 1st SBCT, 25th Infantry Division relieved the 3/2 SBCT. The 1/25 SBCT had only 3 battalions in Mosul since one of its battalions was redeployed to Fallujah as part of Operation Phantom Fury. At the same time, insurgents moved from Fallujah to Mosul and began launching attacks. On November 11, 2004, insurgents conducted a large scale operation against police stations in Mosul, facing little resistance from the Iraqi police who refused to fight. Undermanned Coalition forces were forced to rely on thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga to help recapture the city, which was retaken after two weeks of heavy fighting.[4]

Between 2004 and 2006, a stalemate existed between the Kurdish forces in the east of the city (who had been reflagged as the 2nd Iraqi Army Division) and Sunni insurgents who were firmly entrenched in western Mosul.[4]

In early 2007, coalition forces launched a new counter insurgency strategy throughout Iraq, mainly focused on Baghdad and the surrounding belts. The U.S. military command responsible for Ninewa province, Multi-National Division North, was again forced to operate without one of its battalions when the 2nd battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment was deployed to Mansoor district as part of the Baghdad Security Plan. At this point, MND-N had one combat brigade in Ninewa Province, the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division, under the command of COL Stephen Twitty. This unit was composed of three combat battalions, including 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment stationed at FOB Marez in Mosul and 5-82 FA BN at FOB Q-West near Qayarrah. These units were supported by the 4th Special Troops Battalion and the 27th Brigade Support Battalion.

At the same time, the Iraqi Army 2nd Division had redeployed two of its battalions to Baghdad. Despite the reduced Coalition and Iraqi presence in Mosul, attacks fell by half, from between 15 and 18 attacks per day in December 2006, to 7-9 attacks in July. However, coalition operations in Diyala and Baghdad were forcing insurgents north along the Tigris River valley up to Mosul.

A U.S. military map used by General Petraeus in Congressional testimony in April 2008. The dark red areas represent regions where insurgents are capable of conducting operations, while the light red regions highlight insurgent transit routes.

Following their defeats during Operation Phantom Thunder and Operation Phantom Strike in 2007 the insurgents lost their primary base of operations in Diyala province and were still under attack by Coalition forces as part of operation Phantom Phoenix. Having also lost their bases in Al Anbar and in Baghdad itself, remaining insurgent forces were forced to retreat towards northern Iraq and establish their main bases in Mosul, their last supply route through which they moved weapons, personnel and money from abroad into the country. Mosul also had strong strategic importance as a main logistics hub for Al-Qaeda in Iraq because of its size and location - sitting at crossroads between Baghdad, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The insurgents established a new base in Mosul and prepared for a 'decisive final battle' in the words of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. If they lost their center in Mosul the insurgents would not be able to effectively fight anymore.[5]

By mid-January 2008, the US 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Regiment had been redeployed to Mosul from Baghdad, joining the 3rd Squadron of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (3-3 ACR), who had been in the city since December 2007, when the 3ACR took over responsibility for Nineveh province from the 4th HBCT of the 1st Division. The city was split into two halves, with each unit responsible for security on their side. Two Iraqi Army battalions from the 2nd Division who had been deployed in Baghdad as part of Operation Imposing Law returned to Mosul. Also, in January 2008, Iraq established the Ninewa Operational Command (NOC), to coordinate the various Iraqi Security Force units operating in the province, as well as liaise with Coalition forces operating in the province. A Sunni Arab, Major General Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, previously commander of the 9th IA Division, was selected to command the NOC.[6]

Sporadic fighting had already been going on since late 2007, after the insurgents had been routed from Diyala. In early 2008, however, Al-Qaeda wanted to make it clear that they could still fight effectively in Iraq.

On January 23, a massive cache of explosives was detonated in an abandoned building in Mosul in the Zinjeli neighborhood. Insurgents were tipped off that Iraqi security forces were preparing to search the building and when the police came they detonated the explosive. The explosion killed 60 people, all of them civilians, wounded 280 and leveled several buildings.[7]

The next day, as the police was investigating the scene, of the massive bombing the day before, gunmen opened fire on them. At that time a suicide bomber targeted the car of the police chief of Mosul, who was on the scene, killing him and two other policemen.[8]

On January 25, the Iraqi Prime Minister ordered Iraqi military reinforcements to Mosul to begin an offensive to crush the remaining al-Qaeda elements that were still holding out in the area. The troops, tanks and helicopters began arriving in Mosul on January 27, including elements of the 35th Brigade, 9th (Armored) Division.[9][10]

General Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq visits Iraqi troops at Combat Outpost Intisar in Mosul, February 2008

However, a day after the reinforcements arrived insurgents ambushed a U.S. military patrol in the city killing five soldiers. The patrol was initially attacked by an IED, but then insurgents in a nearby mosque opened fire on soldiers in the patrol after the roadside bombing, prompting a fierce gunbattle as U.S. and Iraqi troops secured the area. Iraqi soldiers entered the mosque but the gunmen had already fled.[11]

During the fight for the north there was also some sporadic fighting in other areas, such as Tal Afar to the west of Mosul, Kirkuk further to the north-east and Hawija which is just south of Kirkuk.

On February 18, Coalition forces captured Abd-al-Rahman Ibrahim Jasim Tha'ir, Al Qaida's military emir for Mosul. Abd-al-Rahman was moved to Mosul from Bayji after the previous emir was captured on January 21. His capture allowed Coalition forces to develop intelligence about the Al-Qaeda in Iraq network in south-east Mosul, and on March 1 it was reported that Coalition forces had killed the military emir for south-east Mosul on February 27, Abu Yasir al-Saudi. Al-Saudi was a Saudi national who had previously fought in Afghanistan and had been involved in many deadly terrorist attacks across Mosul, including the January 28 ambush, since arriving in Iraq in August 2007 with three other Saudis. It was also reported that 142 insurgents had been killed or captured in Mosul since the operation began.[12][13]

Diagram released by Coalition forces after they had killed Abu Yasir al-Saudi, Al-Qaeda in Iraq's military emir (operational leader) for south-east Mosul, in an airstrike on February 27. The figure at the top of the network is Abd-al-Rahman, Mosul's military emir who was captured February 18.

On March 15, a force of between 10–12 insurgents attacked an Iraqi Army combat outpost with grenades, RPGs and small arms. The insurgents were repulsed and 3 were killed in the attack. [14]

On March 23, an insurgent suicide bomber, in a truck with a bullet-proof windshield, attacked Combat Outpost Inman, an Iraqi Army military base in western Mosul. He blasted through an armored vehicle to reach the courtyard of the military headquarters. In the ensuing explosion 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 42 people, including 30 soldiers, were wounded.[15][16]

On April 14, an insurgent suicide bomber attacked a group of Peshmerga soldiers near Sinjar. Following the attack insurgents opened up on them with small-arms fire and RPGs. 14 soldiers were killed and 15 wounded.[17]

On April 26, insurgents attacked an Iraqi Army checkpoint in Mosul. A suicide bomber detonated an explosive laden vehicle killing 2 Iraqi civilians and wounding 4. Insurgents than followed the explosion with small arms and RPG fire. Iraqi Army and Coalition forces returned fire, killing one terrorist.[18]

• Walling Mosul – Long War Journal
• In Mosul, New Test of Iraqi Army – New York Times
• Mosul Braces for Assault on Last Bastion of Al Qaida in Iraq – Independent article by Patrick Cockburn on the May 2008 offensive.
• Map of Mosul
• New Lessons for the Army on Iraq Duty – New York Times