The belts can be described as the provinces adjacent to the Iraqi capital and can be divided into four quadrants: northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest.
Between 2004 and June 2007, Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Shi'ite militias used locations in the Baghdad Belts to supply their combat operations in the capital.
According to General Odierno, a top US commander in Iraq, "Attacks occurring in Baghdad often originate in these outlying regions.
[1] Beginning in early 2007, the top US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, committed three of the five Surge brigades to the belts.
In June 2007, as part of a country-wide offensive to secure the country, a number of operations were launched throughout the belts: During the offensive that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launched against the Iraqi Government in June 2014, some US analysts speculated that the group's strategy was to follow Zarqawi's plan of capturing the Baghdad Belts area before laying siege to Baghdad.