Joint Special Operations Command Task Force in the Iraq War
[2] The task force was reported to be responsible for the cross border raid into Syria from Iraq in October 2008 that resulted in eight deaths including Abu Ghadiya,[3] along with several US operations in the Horn of Africa targeting al-Qaeda.
Task Force Center is probably[clarification needed] co-located with TF 145's headquarters element at Balad, but it could also be based at Camp Liberty, since it is responsible for the Baghdad region.
However, Daily wanted the Delta squadron to stay at Ar'Ar Air Base and only launch against suspected Weapon of mass destruction sites and/or High-value targets.
TF 20 was tasked with seizing airfields deep in Iraq and capturing HVTs along with providing long-range Special Reconnaissance; one of its primary pre-invasion targets was the planned seizure of Saddam International Airport in Baghdad, two full-scale rehearsals were carried out but the operation was never carried out and the airport was eventually captured by conventional units.
Also that day, 3rd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment conducted a combat drop onto H-1 Air Base, securing the site as a staging area for operations in western Iraq.
[15] On 26 March 2003, the DEVGRU component in TF 20 supported by B company 2nd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment conducted the raid Objective Beaver—a suspected chemical and biological weapons site at the al Qadisiyah reservoir, north of Haditha, they engaged numerous gunmen but there was no chemical or biological weapons at the site.
[15] Delta units headed north from Haditha to conduct ambushes along the highway above Tikrit, tying up Iraqi forces in the region and attempting to capture fleeing high-value targets trying to escape to Syria, Team Tank convinced Iraqi Generals that the coalition main effort might be coming from the west.
Two Delta operators were wounded and the squadron requested aero medical evacuation and close-air support as a company of truck-borne Iraqi reinforcements arrived to bolster the Fedayeen assault.
Two MH-60K Blackhawks carrying a para jumper medical team and two MH-60L Black Hawk DAPs of the 160 SOAR responded and engaged the Iraqis, which allowed the Delta operators to move their casualties to an emergency HLZ, after which they were medevaced to H-1 Air Base, escorted by a pair of A-10As.
A pair of A-10As arrived and dropped 500 lb airburst bombs within 20m of Delta positions and killed a large number of Iraqi infantry who had been gathering in a wadi.
He was captured in a joint helicopter and ground assault on a safehouse in Tikrit without resistance or casualties, in what was considered a highly successful operation.
After soldiers of the 101st Airborne engaged the building with .50cal HMGs and M136 anti tank rockets, a third entry attempt was made, but was again driven back by intense gunfire.
[25][26] Between July and December 2003, TF 121 carried out twelve unsuccessful raids to find Saddam Hussein, together with 600 other operations against targets, including 300 interrogations.
On 12 December 2003, a raid on a house in Baghdad, that was being used as an insurgent headquarters, captured Muhammed Ibrahim Omar al-Musslit, who was Saddam's right-hand man, known to TF 121 as "the source" or "the fatman".
[30] In the final weeks of 2003, Colonel Stuart Herrington had been on an inspection of Camp Nama—the special ops facility at Baghdad Airport, (at the time it was TF 121 main operations centre in Iraq prior to moving to Balad Air Base) in particular he inspected the detention and interrogation facilities-where individuals captured by JSOC and SAS were taken to.
As a result, he reported to the chief army intelligence officer in Baghdad that Iraqis who had been captured by TF 121 had showed signs of mistreatment.
[citation needed] The task force was also responsible for the tracking and eventual elimination (by F-16 launched ordnance) of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Based on this current and actionable intelligence, they asked the commander of II MEF(FWD) to have to the city of Haditha assaulted in order to flush Zarqawi out.
[42] On 11 April 2005, Task Force Black's G squadron, SAS, captured Fadhil Ibrahim al-Mashhadani, one of Saddam Hussein's former apparatchik after assaulting his house.
At about the same time, in an attempt to find the kidnappers of a foreigner, the SAS also captured a former senior Ba'athist party official and another man.
[47] In April 2006, B squadron SAS launched Operation Larchwood 4 the results of which gave the coalition intelligence on Zarqawi which led to his death.
[50] Another setback for the task force was during the Second Battle of Fallujah when the SAS was banned from going into the city alongside its American counterpart because of the pressure that the government was feeling from the unpopularity of the war.
He also revealed that the Shia Special Groups gave reports of IED attacks and indirect fire to the Iranians as well as said Iraqi's for training in Iran.
Operators from Task Force knight responded to 2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel, but the incident was eventually resolved.
The CII missions successfully caused the leader of the Mahdi Army, Muqtada al-Sadr, to flee to Iran, where in August he declared a ceasefire with the coalition.
[54] Task Force Black/Knight provided the United Kingdom with one clear success of the nations controversial involvement in the Iraq War.
Lieutenant-General Rob Fry described the role of British special forces in defeating al-Qaeda as being of "an absolutely historic scale".
The raid targeted "an improvised explosive device specialist involved in coordinating IED and suicide-vest attacks in the region-with ties to several al Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders."
"Nearby, the ground force discovered additional weapons caches to include rocket-propelled grenades, artillery, and mortar rounds, improvised IEDs, and suicide-vest materials.
"[57] The Long War Journal reported that on 24 June 2008, a team of TF 88 operators killed ISI emir in a raid on a terrorist safe house in Mosul.
