Dawn of Destruction for Daesh

A senior Iraqi commander expresses his gratitude for a US-Iraqi operation that routed a terrorist convoy

BY LT. GEN. FALAH HASAN, DEPUTY COMMANDER, IRAQI AIR FORCE

For the historical record, I would like to mention some important details about the enormous airstrike that broke the back of Daesh in Iraq in late June 2016.

The early morning hours of that hot day in Baghdad were very quiet. I was resting after a month of hard work helping to lead the Fallujah liberation. But that sense of calm vanished with the ringing of my phone several hours before dawn. Once I read the caller’s name, I realized that something critical had compelled Staff Maj. Gen. Saad Allaq — Iraq’s director of military intelligence — to call me so early.

His words were stern, and I sensed concern in his voice. He informed me that his directorates were tracking significant formations of Daesh in a peninsula in southern Fallujah near Lake Razaza. Approximately 400 vehicles carrying at least 1,200 fighters were on their way to the peninsula from Daesh-controlled areas nearby.

The initial intelligence report raised the possibility that the terrorists intended to move southward to the holy city of Karbala or westward to the Syrian border, and there was a possibility they could even move northward to Mosul. Maj. Gen. Allaq was instructed to go immediately to the headquarters of the joint forces and assist the commander on duty with this situation.

The information was gathered by intercepting a radio signal from Daesh at midnight from this remote location. The first decision by military intelligence was to use airborne reconnaissance. While a Cessna airplane observed and recorded the formation, it received enemy fire and responded by releasing two rockets at the enemy and returning to base.

An Iraqi Air Force AN-32 tactical aircraft arrived, and we confirmed the terrorists’ intention as the formation started moving south toward Karbala. To slow the column’s movements, the aircraft dropped its load of four bombs on the lead vehicles.

At this point, intelligence reports confirmed that more Daesh elements were moving to the location and their motive was to attack Karbala in retaliation for their defeat in Fallujah. If they could destroy the religious shrines in Karbala, they imagined they could ignite sectarian war in the Middle East and distract the world from focusing on their defeat in Fallujah at the hands of the Iraqi Armed Forces.

Maj. Gen. Allaq and I knew that our Air Force assets were engaged elsewhere and we couldn’t fight this significant Daesh formation alone. The speed of the enemy’s movement indicated the column would reach Karbala in a few hours.

Even more troubling, Maj. Gen. Allaq contacted governmental and security agencies in Karbala and learned that the forces in the city were not prepared to stop an attack of the magnitude devised by Daesh. At that point, I got more deeply involved.

When I arrived at headquarters and saw the preliminary imaging from the Cessna, I fully grasped the concerns of the head of Iraqi military intelligence. The situation was reaching the critical point. I decided to reach out to our partners in the U.S. forces who work at the same headquarters of the Combined Joint Operations Command and ask for the assistance of reconnaissance assets already operating in the area.

The response of U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Rick Uribe was very encouraging. It wasn’t long before we started getting live feedback from U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. We could see the terrain and the size of the Daesh elements and determined the terrorists were preparing to stage an attack. We decided to halt their movements.

Brig. Gen Uribe contacted his boss, Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, and requested his presence for the developing situation. Gen. Volesky arrived at 4 in the morning, and we briefed him on this dangerous situation. I expressed my concerns that if Daesh reached Karbala, the consequences would be disastrous.

We calculated that about 15 SUVs appeared to be carrying displaced citizens or hostages, and pickup and flatbed trucks were hauling anti-aircraft weapons, fuel, ammunition and supplies. They were moving south in convoys. I requested a quick response from our partners, because in a matter of a few hours, Daesh would reach Karbala. There were huge formations in an isolated valley that looked like reinforcements waiting for a call from the advanced elements. The decision was to attack and destroy the leading vehicles.

After multiple calls between Maj. Gen. Volesky and the U.S. Air Force operations center, they managed to reroute drones to the Daesh location. Shortly after, the drones attacked, stopping the convoy. They destroyed about 24 vehicles while we monitored the situation from the live feed. We saw the terrorists flee their vehicles toward a pond. They were retreating like trained soldiers, which indicated they were fighters. Few wore the typical Arabic dishdasha robe; most wore Daesh outfits.

The battle was joined by a squadron of F/A-18s scrambling over the area to continue striking the target. We agreed that coalition airpower would continue the air campaign throughout part of the morning and then hand the mission to the Iraqi Air Force. I felt proud to work with allies who swiftly responded to our request for help and conducted their mission professionally to silence the despicable voices that claim U.S. forces are not serious about fighting Daesh.

In the hours since I had asked for help from our coalition partners, both U.S. generals and their teams remained on their feet monitoring events and requesting more strikes. I would like to express my gratitude for their commitment and professionalism in completing the mission. I decided to write this story of heroism to ensure the accuracy of the historical record, that these generals did an honorable job of destroying Daesh’s plan to attack Karbala, an attack that might have dragged the entire Muslim world into the miseries of sectarian war. The motive of Daesh is clear: to spread sedition and destroy Muslim unity by attacking holy shrines and mosques.

After the accomplishment of the mission, I wrote a letter to the religious authority (howza) and to the Sunni Endowment to inform them that all people who believe in tolerance and peaceful co-existence must appreciate the honorable stand of our U.S. partners, especially the Combined Joint Operations Command team that helped me that night.

Just as we had agreed, later that morning the Iraqi Air Force took over the mission, although I started my planning hours earlier. Our brave hawks located and destroyed the remains of the enemy forces and at midday deployed with Iraqi Special Operations Soldiers to clear the area and search for valuable information left behind.

It was an awesome mission and a great lesson about the importance of partnerships and the continued commitment of our U.S. allies to support Iraq in its war against terror. I am certain that this true partnership will prevail.