Haifa Street, 2007

The battle, stage by stage

1. 6 January 2007, about 11 AM – night

   Bodies at the traffic circle

   Haifa Street runs for about three kilometres along the west bank of the Tigris, just north-west of the Green Zone. Its 1980s high-rise apartment blocks sit in a largely Sunni area beside Shia neighbourhoods to the west, and by late 2006 killings and flight had emptied many flats, which insurgents — including al-Qaeda in Iraq, now styling itself the Islamic State of Iraq — took over. On 6 January, the day Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced his Baghdad security plan, a new Iraqi battalion (3rd Bn, 5th Bde, 6th Iraqi Army Division) and its U.S. advisers from the 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry found 27 bound and executed bodies at the Sheikh Ma'ruf traffic circle. About 1 PM the team traded fire with a small group of gunmen; when it re-entered Haifa Street it was ambushed from the high-rises near Taleel (Tala'a) Square by an estimated 30–40 insurgents. Troop C ('Crazy Horse') moved up and the fight ran past nightfall with close air support. Iraqi officials reported about 30 insurgents killed that day; the Army's account credits at least 11 killed and more than 20 captured, with one Iraqi soldier killed.

2. 7–8 January 2007

   The Iraqi attempt

   Sniper fire from the blocks continued; by one account two Iraqi security guards were shot near a neighbourhood mosque on 7 January. On 8 January Iraqi troops tried to clear the street on their own and were driven back, reportedly losing two soldiers, and the Iraqi command asked for U.S. help. The U.S. aim, as Multi-National Division–Baghdad put it, was to 'restore Iraqi Security Forces control of North Haifa Street'.

3. 9 January 2007, before dawn – about 7 AM

   Into north Haifa Street

   Early on 9 January the 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and U.S. troops — the Stryker infantry of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry, working with the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division — began targeted raids around Taleel Square, linking up at the north end of the street and moving into buildings to make arrests. At about 7 AM fire erupted from the high-rises — machine guns, snipers, RPGs and mortars. By the published accounts some U.S. soldiers were pinned on a rooftop for two hours or more, and others were caught in the street below.

4. 9–10 January 2007

   A day-long battle

   Apache helicopters fired Hellfire missiles into insurgent positions and jets circled overhead; more than a dozen Iraqi gun trucks, more Strykers and, in all, roughly 1,000 Iraqi and U.S. soldiers joined the fight, which moved block by block and through the alleys behind the towers. Iraq's Defence Ministry said about 50 insurgents were killed and 21 captured, among them fighters from Syria and Sudan; the U.S. military gave no figure and no U.S. soldiers were reported killed. Searches went on the next day. Within a day Maliki relieved the Sunni commander of the 5th Brigade, Gen. Razzak Hamza — a move some saw as sectarian. Images of the fighting, including CBS reporter Lara Logan's footage, spread widely as President Bush announced the troop 'surge'.

5. 24 January 2007, 5–6 AM

   Tomahawk Strike 11

   Insurgents filtered back. Before dawn on 24 January a large armoured force moved in again — this time with 1-23 Infantry entering from the southern end — in a combined operation the U.S. called Tomahawk Strike 11: the 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, the 5th Iraqi National Police Brigade, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (4-9 Cavalry) and the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Troops took over an office building on the street's edge — reportedly the Culture Ministry's — sent its staff home and put snipers on the roof. An insurgent mortar team opened fire early and dispersed after a single U.S. mortar round in reply.

6. 24 January 2007, dawn – late afternoon

   Building by building

   At dawn fire came from the high-rises — hand grenades, small arms and RPGs. Infantry, Strykers and Bradleys cleared building by building for about eight hours under sniper and mortar fire, with Apaches overhead, and Reuters reported clashes near a cemetery. Staff Sgt. Hector Leija, 27, of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry, was killed by a single shot while searching an apartment. Figures conflict: Iraq's Defence Ministry said 30 insurgents were killed and 27 (later 35) captured; the U.S. reported seven detained and a cache of RPGs, anti-tank rounds and 155 mm shells. Hospital and police officials reported at least one civilian killed and seven wounded, and a local journalist said he drove 37 wounded, including women and children, to hospital.

7. 25 January – February 2007

   Holding the street

   Troop C, 4-9 Cavalry cleared remaining pockets on 24–26 January. By February, by the Long War Journal's account, al-Qaeda and its allies had been driven from the Haifa Street area, and the squadron — Task Force Warhorse — set up Combat Outpost Remagen at the northern end of its sector and began the slower work of holding the street through the surge. Later in 2007 local Awakening (Sahwa) volunteers also fought al-Qaeda cells in the alleys. The January battles are often described as a curtain-raiser for the surge's clearing operations in Baghdad.