The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the coup of July 1958.
The Iraqi Army in its modern form was first created by the United Kingdom during the inter-war period of de facto British control of Mandatory Iraq. Following the invasion of Iraq by U.S. forces in 2003, the Iraqi Army was rebuilt along U.S. lines with enormous amounts of U.S. military assistance at every level. Because of the Iraqi insurgency that began shortly after the invasion, the Iraqi Army was later designed to initially be a counter-insurgency force.[3][4] With the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2010, Iraqi forces have assumed full responsibility for the nation's security.[5] A New York Times article suggested that, between 2004 and 2014, the U.S. had provided the Iraqi Army with $25 billion in training and equipment in addition to an even larger sum from the Iraqi treasury.[6]
– reorganised as an armoured corps for the 1991 Gulf War, comprising the 17th Armoured Division and the 51st Mechanised Division
2nd Corps
– established before Iran-Iraq War. In 1978 reported to be headquartered at Nasariyah and to consist of 1st and 5th Mechanised Divisions and 9th Armoured Division. In 2003, Nasiriyah was the headquarters of the Iraqi Army's 3rd Corps, composed of the 11th ID, 51st Mech ID, and 6th Armored Division—all at around 50 percent strength. The 51st operated south covering the oilfields, and the 6th was north near Al Amarah, which left three brigade-sized elements of the 11th ID to guard the An Nasiriyah area.[62]
3rd Corps
4th Corps – established 22 October 1981 to take over the northern sector of , including Basitin, Shush, and Dezful sectors. Maj Gen Hisham Sahab al-Fakhri, previously 10th Armoured Division commander, was appointed as the corps commander. 1st Mechanised, 10th Armoured, and 14th Infantry Division were allocated to the corps, leaving 3rd Corps with 3rd and 9th Armoured, 5th Mechanised, and 11th Infantry Divisions.[63]
6th Corps – Malovany 2017 writes that on 25 March 1985, an army meeting chaired by Saddam in Baghdad decided to transform the East Tigris Headquarters into a regular corps, the 6th Corps. It was to be reinforced with four additional divisions; as the 35th Division had been transferred to the 4th Corps, and the 32nd Division was with the East Tigris HQ, the new line-up would consist of the 32nd Division as before; the 12th Armoured Division and transferred both from the 2nd Corps; the 4th Infantry Division, and the 25th Infantry Division from the 4th Corps.[64] Malovany adds on the same page that during 1986 two more divisions joined the 6th Corps, an infantry division ("apparently the 50th") and the "Marshes" Division.
2nd Infantry Division
7th Corps
Jihad Forces ( of 1991)
Persian Gulf War
[95]
Iraqi Air Force
Iraqi Army Ranks Insignia
Iraqi Navy
Uniforms of Iraqi Armed Forces
Al-Marashi, Ibrahim; Salama, Sammy (2008). . Oxon and New York: Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-40078-7.
(PDF). www.cpa-iraq.org. October 2003. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2004-07-01. Retrieved July 1, 2004.
"CPA-IRAQ.org: Homepage of The New Iraq - New Iraqi Army Graduation"
Cordesman, Anthony (2003). The Iraq War: Strategy, Tactics, and Military Lessons. CSIS. 978-0-89206-432-8.
ISBN
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ISBN
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"Iraqi Security Forces and Popular Mobilization Forces: Order of Battle"
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Jane's Intelligence Review
Finer, S. E. (1962). The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics. New York: Frederick A. Praeger. 1086799768.
OCLC
Fisk, Robert (2005). The Great War For Civilisation; The Conquest of the Middle East. Fourth Estate.
Godfroy, Jeanne F.; Morton, Matthew D.; Powell, James S.; Zais, Matthew M. (2019b). Rayburn, Joel; Sobchak, Frank (eds.). (PDF). Carlisle, PA: United States Army War College Press. p. 668. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
The US Army in the Iraq War, Volume 2: Surge and Withdrawal, 2007–2011
Fontenot, Gregory; Degen, E. J.; Tohn, David (2004). . Naval Institute Press. pp. 222–232. ISBN978-1-59114-279-9. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom
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International Institute for Strategic Studies
IISS (1997). The Military Balance 1997-98. London: .
International Institute for Strategic Studies
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Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Levey, Zach (March 2004). "Britain's Middle East Strategy, 1950-52: General Brian Robertson and the 'Small' Arab States". Middle East Studies. 40 (2): 58–79. :10.1080/00263200412331301987. JSTOR4289899. S2CID144247141.
doi
Lyman, Robert (2005). . Campaign. Oxford, New York: Osprey Publishing. pp. 96. ISBN1-84176-991-6.
Iraq 1941: The Battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad
Malovany, Pesach (2017). Wars of Modern Babylon. University Press of Kentucky. 978-0813169439.
ISBN
Playfair, Ian Stanley Ord; Flynn, F.C.; Molony, C. J. C.; Toomer, S.E. (2004). The Mediterranean And Middle East: Volume II The Germans Come To The Help Of Their Ally (1941). London: Naval & Military Press. 1-84574-065-3. OCLC276341649.
ISBN
Pollack, Kenneth M. (2002). Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness 1948-91. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. 0-8032-3733-2. OCLC49225708. Also see Pollack's book reviewed in International Security, Vol. 28, No. 2.
ISBN
Simon, Reeva S. (1986). Iraq Between the Two World Wars: The Creation and Implementation of a Nationalist Ideology. New York: Columbia University Press. 0-231-06074-2. OCLC12949947.
ISBN
Spearin, Christopher (2008). A Justified Heaping of the Blame?, in Stoker (ed). "Military Advising and Assistance: From Mercenaries to Privatization. Routledge.
West, Bing (7 December 2011). . Random House Publishing Group. p. 118. ISBN978-0-307-80834-9. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah
Wright, Donald R.; Reese, Timothy (2008). On Point II Transition to the New Campaign: The U.S. Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom May 2003-January 2005. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press.
Zacchea, Michael; Kemp, Ted (2017-04-01). . Chicago Review Press. ISBN9781613738443. Archived from the original on 2017-10-12. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
Ragged Edge: A US Marine's Account of Leading the Iraqi Army Fifth Battalion
Witty, David (2015). (PDF). Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution. p. 10. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service
James Dobbins, Seth G. Jones, Keith Crane, Andrew Rathmell, Brett Steele, The UN's Role in Nation-Building: From the Congo to Iraq (CPA period)
Gray, Wesley (2013-08-10). . Naval Institute Press. ISBN9781612514062. Includes very useful thoughts on Iraq Army personnel 'laziness.'
Embedded: A Marine Corps Adviser Inside the Iraqi Army
Hamdani, Ra'ad. Before History Left Us. Beirut: Arab Scientific Publishers, 2006.
Huggins, William D. The Republican Guards and Saddam Hussein's Transformation of the Iraqi Army, The Arab Studies Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring 1994), pp. 31–35.
Loose Ends: Iraq's Security Forces between U.S. Drawdown and Withdrawal (Baghdad/Washington/Brussels: ICG, October 26, 2010).
International Crisis Group
Michael Knights, "Free rein: domestic security forces take over in Iraq," Jane's Intelligence Review (November 4, 2010)
Tzvi Ofer, The Iraqi Army in the Yom Kippur War, transl. Hatzav, Tel Aviv: Ma'arachot, 1986
Owen West, The Snake Eaters: Counterinsurgency Advisors in Combat
Kevin M. Woods, Williamson Murray, and Thomas Holaday, with Mounir Elkhamri, 'Saddam's War: An Iraqi military perspective of the Iran–Iraq War,' McNair Papers 70, INSS/NDU, Washington DC, 2009.
Blog on Iraqi Forces by Former Naval Intelligence Officer
www.365iniraq.com Articles and pictures from an Iraqi Army transition team
Building Iraqi security forces : hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, March 14, 2005
Rebuilding Iraq: Resource, Security, Governance, Essential Services, and Oversight Issues: United States General Accounting Office Report to Congressional Committees, June, 2004
Cordesman, Anthony H.: Prepared Statement before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations of the Committee on Government Reform, March 14, 2005
Cordesman, Anthony H., Iraqi Security Forces, Praeger/CSIS, 2006 0-275-98908-9
ISBN
Cordesman, Anthony H., Iraqi Force Development: A Current Status Report July 2005 – February 2006, February 15, 2006
Christian Science Monitor, March 17, 2008
America's old Humvees add new luster to Iraqi fleet
Blog on Iraqi Forces by Former Naval Intelligence Officer D. J. Elliot
Russia's Bunker-Smashing Rockets Have Arrived in Iraq
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
