On 30 January 1991 as the division crossed the frontier for the main attack, the 26th Armoured Brigade became trapped in a minefield and had a large amount of damage inflicted on it.

The commander of the III Corps, Major General Salah Aboud Mahmoud, called the attack off as he believed it was impossible to execute the full plan.

The Iraqi 5th Division was in complete disarray following the removal of its commanding general, who had finally been relieved by the Minister of Defense for using his formations for sectarian death squads and Mafia-style criminal enterprises.

The regions of Diyala, Salah ad-Din, Kirkuk and south-east of Baghdad are the subject of many operations of the Iraqi Armed Forces and the Coalition, in order to dismantle the networks and interrupt Iranian support.

As of February 2010 the division's dispositions were reported as:[11] The Kirkush Military Training Base (KMTB) was one of the first installations constructed for the new Iraqi Army in January 2004.