Today cars laden with fruit and vegetables stream through the Iraqi town of Husaybah from the nearby Syrian border, just as they did before the US invasion. But the pock-marked facades of the dust-coloured buildings, the piles of rubble and the craters in the highways remain, bearing testimony to the violence that devastated the town.
In the far reaches of the rocky western desert, 250 barren miles from Baghdad, smugglers and legitimate businessmen alike hammered out deals in the town’s narrow streets. Arriving there in 2003 soldiers likened the place to the space port town Mos Eisley from the first Star Wars film.
Iraqi trader - Zoriah/Flickr
As the occupation progressed insurgents took over the town, exploiting the old smuggling routes to traffic weapons, explosives and fighters from Syria down the Euphrates valley to Baghdad.
In a bid to close down the “ratline” US forces launched Operation Steel Curtain in November 2005 – the first large-scale joint US-Iraqi operation against the insurgency. The operation devastated the town. As citizens fled the population dropped from as many as 50,000 to just 5,000.
Operation Steel Curtain
Within weeks of the occupation, the city was engaged in a savage fight for control between coalition forces and insurgents. In one fierce battle five coalition troops and up to 50 alleged insurgents lost their lives.
Other reports mention the use of women and children as human shields, it gives no indications as to their eventual fate.
April 17 2004
Observed a mortar line being set up on the western side of the Syrian border that is using women and children as a human shield. F14 using lighting pod was flown. Awaiting results of imagery.
In November 2005, an attack of 2,500 US troops and 1,000 soldiers from the Iraqi Army was planned under the codename Operation Steel Curtain.
Intelligence reports found within the war logs reveal the US expected heavy resistance.
November 7 2005
As of early November 2005, al Qaeda in Iraq (AQIZ) fighters were expecting multinational forces in Iraq (MNF-I) to assault the city of Husaybah… between 1 and 4 November 2005, improvised explosive devices (IED), were placed along the shoulders of the southern most road in Husaybah.
Additionally, portions of the road were dug up and anti-tank mines were emplaced. The road was then repaved.… there were two clusters of homes that AQIZ expected MNF-I to attempt to seize.. these two clusters of homes were heavily booby-trapped and defended by an unspecified number of foreign fighters. The neighborhoods were laced with IEDs made of propane tanks and oxygen tanks with TNT, as well as 57MM AA [Anti Aircraft] shells buried below the ground and rigged up to fire up into the bottoms of advancing vehicles.
On November 6 and 7 the US stepped up heavy air bombardment, as its ground troops moved into Husaybah.
The US military even issued a press release celebrating the results of its air attacks.
“Coalition forces destroyed three safe houses with air strikes using precision guided munitions,” it read. “One of the safe houses destroyed was the location of an apparent meeting between al Qaida in Iraq (AQIZ) terrorist leaders from the Husaybah and Al Qaim areas.”
Related article: US Apache guns down surrendering insurgents
Yet the Iraqi War logs reveal that just days later, as US and Iraqi troops fanned out over the city they had successfully seized, the US learned of the consequences of its air attacks.
Just 26 of the 391,000 leaked reports contain any reference to civilian deaths as a result of US air strikes. Two of the most harrowing follow the aftermath of Steel Curtain.
November 11 2005
3/6 Steel Curtain reported finding civilian bodies buried in (3) separate locations in Husaybah. At [redacted] (3) males and (1) child were recovered. At 3/6 ISO Steel Curtain reported finding civilian bodies buried in (3) separate locations in Husaybah. At [redacted] (7) females and (10) children were recovered.At [redacted] (1) child was unable to be recovered. All recovery operations and burials were conducted by the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces]. Neighbors positively identified all the remains and the father identified the remains of the child that was unable to be recovered.
All casualties were recovered from areas attacked by coalition aircraft in 7 Nov 05 in response to TIC [Troops In Contact]. Insurgents were PID [Positively Identified] engaging CF from all locations listed, and subsequent engagements using CAS. It was not known that civilians were present on the targets during time of CAS engagement.
The second reports detail a US patrol’s discovery of the fate of a family held hostage by insurgents during heavy fighting.
November 8 2005
The local nationals requested assistance in retrieving people trapped in the rubble of a building destroyed by FW CAS conducted on 07Nov05. Upon arrival at the destroyed building a (LN) [local National] elderly man that stated insurgents came into the house and killed (2) of its occupants while forcing the other occupants down into a lower level of the building and locking them into a room.The LN stated that the insurgents immediately began firing at CF from the house which later resulted in the building getting destroyed and trapping the abducted occupants in the building’s rubble.
The BLT 2/1 was able to extract (1) adult male believed to be the owner of the house and (1) female child that were still alive in which the BLT 2/1 surgeon treated until the NWIA (urgent) was air medevaced to al Qaim. BLT 2/1 has located (5) NKIA from the building rubble so far and continuing to search.
Operation Steel Curtain complete, coalition forces sealed the town’s border with Syria. But while the city’s everyday trade was stymied, smuggling stepped up apace: 41 reports detail coalition or Iraqi forces gathering intelligence on, or tackling, smugglers.
One report details an operation, codenamed “Silent Thunder”, to capture an al Qaeda in Iraq leader in 2008.
Related article: Hundreds of civilians gunned down at checkpoints
Over the six years covered by the reports, the US files suggest at least 457 insurgents were killed in Husaybah, alongside 77 civilians, 50 Iraqi Army soldiers and 24 coalition troops.
The independent civilian death count maintained by Iraq Body Count puts the civilian dead count at between 95 and 171 – more than double the US figures
March 15th, 2011at 1:38 am(#)
Being only a child, Idont exactly get tacken seriously when I say I am truley sorry, and thankful for the united states millitery. I appolagise for not taking the responsibility of my famly and fighint myself, and thankfull that i can trust my famly, freedom, and countrie are safe and being fought fo by none other than the young men and women of this country.