The largest operation of its kind since the U.S. invasion has started in Iraq. British and Danish troops backed by tanks seized five suspects accused of attacks on coalition forces. The number of soldiers involved and the complexity of the operation makes it the largest operation since the US invasion. Some 1,000 troops launched pre-dawn raids on five homes in the densely populated northern al-Hartha district of Basra, where rival Shi’ite militias are battling for control of the city’s oil wealth and coalition troops are sometimes attacked.
Coalition forces had suffered no casualties.
Britain has around 7,200 troops in southern Iraq, mostly stationed in and around Basra, the country’s second largest city and it’s oil wealth, the source of most of the government’s revenues. Britain hopes to pull out thousands of troops next year and hand over control of Basra to Iraqi authorities in April but that too depends on security conditions on the ground.
This once again means the security situation is not good enough to transition to Iraqi control yet. It is not perfect but it is manageable but only by the Coalition forces. However, it seems like the operations will only go larger and larger as far as coalition forces are concerned. The picture that is coming up now is that the coalition is concentrating on the elements that are necessary to make sure that they succeed — because the consequences of failure are severe.
Via: Yahoo
