The 2008 Iraq spring fighting was a series of clashes between the Mahdi Army and allies and the Iraqi Army supported by coalition forces, in southern Iraq and parts of Baghdad, that began with an Iraqi offensive in Basra.
Background In 2007, the Iraqi Army moved 4 brigades, including a tank brigade, and a special forces battalion to Basra, replacing the existing brigade stationed there which was reported to have been corrupt. The Iraqi National Police also moved two battalions to Basra. In August 2007, the Iraqi Army established the Basra Operational Command under the command of General Mohan. The Vice Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Joint Staff said "We do not have enough forces there. That is why we are having a new division, the 14th Division, to be built in Basrah, especially with the possibility that the British might be leaving us in time."
Since August 2007, a unilateral ceasefire was in place, imposed by Muqtada al-Sadr on his militia, the Mahdi Army. However raids were continuing on so-called "rogue" elements of the militia and tensions were building. In February, Sadr extended the ceasefire even though many of his commanders were against it. Despite the extension raids continued and members of the militia accused the members of the security forces of being infiltrated by their rival militia, the Badr Brigade.
The Campaign On 23 March, Easter Sunday militants of the Mahdi Army fired 107 mm rockets on the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad killing Paul Converse, a U.S. government employee, and wounding several other employees and contractors. At least 12 Iraqi civilians were also killed by rockets from Sadr City that missed the Green Zone and hit the civilian sectors around the Zone.
Basra operation
On 25 March, the Iraqi Army and police attacked the second largest Iraqi city, Basra, which had for the most part been under Mahdi Army control for the past seven months since the British troop withdrawal from the city in the beginning of September the previous year. Since then the city was in the middle of a turf war between three different militias, including the Mahdi Army, for the control of the oil exports which had been dominated by the Black Market.
Street fighting spread through six neighbourhoods after the government operation started at 2:00am. Plumes of smoke were seen over the northern neighbourhoods, and by the end of the first day of fighting government forces took the center of the city but the Mahdi Army was still holding on to the northern part of the city.
On 26 March, the Iraqi Prime Minister issued an ultimatum to the Mahdi Army to surrender within 72 hours.
On 28 March, U.S. aircraft bombed two targets in the city while being supported by British planes, a day after militiamen paraded in the city with some 20 captured soldiers and a captured Iraqi Army Humvee. At least two Iraqi Army armoured vehicles and a BMP infantry fighting vehicle were seen destroyed on the streets.
By 29 March, the Iraqi military offensive against the city was faltering in the face of stiff resistance as the 72-hour ultimatum by the government passed and the militants refused to surrender.
On 31 March, the fighting in the city ended after al-Sadr's declaration of a new cease-fire. By that point the Mahdi Army was still in control of about 75% of the city.
Up to 236 people were killed and 1,200 wounded in the fighting in districts of central and northern Basra. 921 members of the security forces, including 421 policemen and a full Iraqi Army battalion of 500 men, deserted, defected or were captured.
Clashes between militiamen and al-Maliki's tribe in Qurna, north of Basra, left 7 dead, including a policeman and a civilian, and 2 wounded on both sides.Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq, Friday March 28, 2008 McClatchy Washington Bureau 5 killed, 2 wounded in clashes in Basra – Aswat Aliraq Civilian killed, policeman wounded in clashes in Basra – Aswat Aliraq
Mortars also killed two policemen and wounded 23 people, including 13 policemen, in Karma, a town north of Basra.FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, March 28 – Reuters
Following the cease-fire in Basra there were still sporadic clashes in the city for some time leaving at least 32 civilians, 34 militants, five policemen and one U.S. Marine dead. Among the dead was also police Major Ali Haider, a commander in the police department's serious crimes directorate.
Post-operation Basra fighting 1 April: Gunmen are reportedly off the streets and Iraqis cautiously emerge back on the streets of Basra with opening markets and men cleaning up trash from the roadsides. Maliki claims military "security, stability and success" and vows to continue operations with a seven-point plan, including recruiting 10,000 new Iraqi security forces members and moving to enhance public services in Basra. 2500 citizens of Basra have already volunteered to work with the Iraqi army since the start of the operation, according to a US military spokesman in Baghdad. – MNF-I
Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Mohammad, director of military operations at Iraq's Defense Ministry, said the Iraqi military planned to seal and search every neighbourhood to capture suspected criminals and confiscate weapons. Sadr vows to continue fight against occupation forces "in a peaceful manner" and plans mass demonstrations against the Coalition on 9 April.
The Hillah Special Weapons and Tactics team detained 20 vehicle smugglers in Basra as part of "continuing deliberate operations against criminals to restore a rule of law", according to a US military spokesman. – MNF-I
The British defence minister announces a pause in troop reductions.
2 April: Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Furayji leads a 12 vehicle Iraqi Army convoy though the Hayaniya district, a Sadr stronghold in central Basra, in an apparent show of force. A roadside bomb explodes near the convoy, but there were no casualties. A reporter for an Iraqi TV station was shot in the leg while filming the convoy. Afterwards gunmen attacked the convoy and one Iraqi Army Humvee was torched.ROBERT H. REID – Iraq army flexes muscles in Basra – AP via Yahoo News Overall, Basra was reportedly relatively calm for a third straight day.Bomb explodes near top Iraq generals in Basra, Reuters, April 2, 2008
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen said in a Pentagon press briefing that the Basra operation is still ongoing and that it is premature to comment on the results of the operation.DoD Press Briefing – CJCS Adm Mullen, Transcript, April 3, 2008
A US Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) attacked a technical in the Halaf area of Basra, killing 6 "armed criminals" after heavy machine gun fire was reported. – MNF-I
3 April: A U.S. airstrike destroyed a house in Basra killing two militant snipers and at least six civilians.Air strike levels house in Basra – BBC News Iraqi Security Forces, advised by U.S. Special Forces, killed seven criminal members and detained 16 others during three separate operations in Basra directed by the Iraqi government.
Muqtada al-Sadr offers the Iraqi government to help purge militia members from Iraqi security forces. Sadr also angrily criticises the Iraqi government for "denying it sent envoys to him"
4 April: Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki orders his security forces to stop raids on suspected Shiite militiamen to "give time to those who are repentant" to lay down their weapons. The PM's order did not mention the Mahdi Army by name. Al-Maliki also ordered a resumption of reconstruction projects and services in the areas of fighting. 3,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen, including soldiers from the Iraqi Army 1st Division moved into Hayyaniyah to distribute food and water to Iraqis who had been without supplies for several days. – MNF-I
Coalition forces attacked Mahdi Army members west of Basra and ordered an air strike during the ensuing clashes. Two children were killed along with another person.
In a Coalition raid during the night 10 militants were killed and two weapons caches, including 60 mm mortar rounds, rocket propelled grenades and explosively formed penetrators, were found. – MNF I
5 April: A U.S. airstrike in the Hayaniyah district hit a militant mortar position killing one gunman.
6 April: The Iraqi Political Council for National Security, with representatives from all major political parties holds a meeting and agrees unanimously to a resolution with a number of points and actions necessary to "end the existence of this gang" (the Mahdi Army). Among those points is a decision that the Sadr trend will not have the right to participate in the political process or take part in the provincial elections unless they disband the Mahdi army. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki continues to deny that any concessions were made or that Iran was involved in negotiating Muqtada al-Sadr's cease-fire order on 30 March 2008.
An explosion of unknown source occurred in Basra destroying a house and killing eight people. MNF-I confirms that an explosion occurred but denies involvement.Eight persons killed in fiery blast in Basra – Kuna News
7 April: Moqtada al-Sadr offers to disband the Mahdi army if the highest Shi'ite religious authorities, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and senior Shi'ite clergy based in Iran, demand it. "If they order the Mahdi army to disband, Muqtada al-Sadr and the Sadr movement will obey the orders of the religious leaders", senior Sadr aide Hassan Zargani told Reuters from Iran.Iraq's Sadr to disband Mehdi Army if clerics order, Reuters, April 7, 2008
8 April: A roadside bomb targeted the convoy of interior ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, wounding two of his guards in northern Basra.FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, April 7
9 April: The US military reported that Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) had captured 12 "suspected terrorists and Special Group members" and killed 14 others in operations in Basra in the past week. – MNF-I
11 April: The German Press reports that Riyad al-Nuri was the victim of an assassination as he left a mosque in Najaf on a Friday. He was gunned down by non-uniformed militants in the style of the assassinations that marked the Quds campaign in Basra. No group took credit for the killing. Riyad al-Nuri was Moqtada al-Sadr's brother-in-law, and a close aide. Moqtada al-Sadr lives in the Holy City of Qom, Iran and has become dependent on his aides in Iraq. _
12 April: Soldiers from the 1st Brigade of the 1st IA (QRF) Division from Al-Anbar, as well as elements from the 14th Division, cleared the suburb of al-Qibla in Basra "without incident", the US military reported. It also reported an al-Qaida in Iraq leader was captured by Iraqi forces in Abu al-Khasib, a small town 20 km southeast of Basra. – MNF-I
13 April: A policeman is killed in a drive-by shooting and two dumped bodies are found.
14 April: Richard Butler, a UK journalist held captive in Basra for two months after being kidnapped in central Basra was freed in an Iraqi Army sweep. Kidnapped UK journalist freed in Iraq's Basra – Reuters via Yahoo News Police Major Ali Haider, a commander in the police department's serious crimes directorate, is shot and killed.