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Operation Viking Hammer
Operation Viking Hammer was an unconventional warfare operation during the Iraq War which took place in northern Iraq, commonly known as Iraqi Kurdistan. The goal of the operation was to eliminate the Ansar al-Islam terrorists as they had occupied parts of Kurdistan and created the Islamic Emirate of Byara. Ansar al-Islam was established by former al-Qaeda members in 2001 as a Salafist Islamist movement that imposed a strict application of Sharia in villages it controlled. Background Ansar al-Islam was an Islamist terrorist organization that made its first appearance in Iraqi Kurdistan in December 2001. The group was founded by Mullah Krekar and made up of mostly Kurdish veterans of Jihad coming back from Afghanistan. The group also had foreign members. From 2001 to 2003, they fought against Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, carving out an enclave around the town of Halabja which they placed under their control. The CIA also suspected Ansar al-Islam of manufacturing chemical w ...
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Kurdistan Islamist Conflict
The Islamist insurgency in Iraqi Kurdistan was a military conflict in Iraqi Kurdistan between the Islamist militant group Ansar al-Islam and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The conflict began in 2001, but subsequently merged with the larger 2003 invasion of Iraq. After the invasion, Ansar al-Islam continued a low-level terrorist insurgency against the KRG. Background Ansar al-Islam was formed in September 2001 when Jund al-Islam merged with a splinter group from the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan, under the leadership of Mullah Krekar. According to the PUK, the group consisted of Kurdish veterans of Jihad who had gone to Afghanistan to fight alongside Taliban against the Soviet invasion in the 80s. They came back to Kurdistan after the defeat of the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001. Ansar al-Islam imposed Sharia in the villages they controlled around Biyara, close to the border to Iran. Ansar al-Islam's rule Human Rights Watch has accused Ansar al-Islam of co ...
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Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Syria (Western Kurdistan), and northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan). Much of the geographical and cultural region of Iraqi Kurdistan is part of the Kurdistan Region (KRI), an autonomous region recognized by the Constitution of Iraq. As with the rest of Kurdistan, and unlike most of the rest of Iraq, the region is inland and mountainous. Etymology The exact origins of the name ''Kurd'' are unclear. The suffix ''-stan'' is an Iranian term for region. The literal translation for Kurdistan is "Region of Kurds". The name was also formerly spelled ''Curdistan''. One of the ancient names of Kurdistan is ''Corduene''.A.D. Lee, ''The Role of Hostages in Roman Diplomacy with Sasa ...
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Patriotic Union Of Kurdistan
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ku, یەکێتیی نیشتمانیی کوردستان, translit=Yekîtiya Nîştimanî ya Kurdistanê) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describes its goals as self-determination, human rights, democracy and peace for the Kurdish people of Kurdistan and Iraq. The PUK is currently under the leadership of Bafel Talabani. The PUK was founded in 1975 by Jalal Talabani, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Fuad Masum, Adel Murad, Ali Askari and Abdul Razaq Feyli. All presidents of Iraq under the 2005 constitution have been from this party. History Discontent within the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) The PUK traces its political heritage to Sulaymaniyah native Ibrahim Ahmad. After the collapse of the Soviet-backed Kurdish Mahabad Republic in Iran in early 1947, Ibrahim Ahmad, previously the Sulaymaniyah representative of the Iranian KDP ( KDP-I), joined the newly formed Iraqi KDP. Ahmad wa ...
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173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team (United States)
The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers") is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe.The 173rd Airborne Brigade History, Our History
skysoldiers.army.mil, last accessed 21 December 2020
Activated in 1915, as the 173rd Infantry Brigade, the unit saw service in but is best known for its actions during the . The brigade was the first major United States Army ground f ...
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10th Special Forces Group (United States)
The 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (10th SFG (A), or 10th Group) is an active duty United States Army Special Forces (SF) Group. 10th Group is designed to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare (UW), foreign internal defense (FID), direct action (DA), counterinsurgency, special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, information operations, counter-proliferation of weapon of mass destruction, and security force assistance. 10th Group is responsible for operations within the EUCOM area of responsibility, as part of Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR). In 2009, as part of a new SOCOM directive, the group is now also responsible for operations within the AFRICOM area of responsibility. 10th SFG(A) was deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1991 during the First Persian Gulf War, and has been heavily involved in the War on Terrorism, deploying to Georgia, North Africa, Afghanistan, and consistently to Iraq. Creation The 10th Special Forces Group (A ...
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Special Forces (United States Army)
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counterinsurgency, special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, information operations, counterproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and security force assistance. The unit emphasizes language, cultural, and training skills in working with foreign troops; recruits are required to learn a foreign language as part of their training and must maintain knowledge of the political, economic, and cultural complexities of the regions in which they are deployed. Other Special Forces missions, known as secondary missions, include combat search and rescue (CSAR), counter-narcotics, hostage rescue, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, information operations, pea ...
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4th Infantry Division (United States)
The 4th Infantry Division is a division of the United States Army based at Fort Carson, Colorado. It is composed of a division headquarters battalion, three brigade combat teams (two Stryker and one armor), a combat aviation brigade, a division sustainment brigade, and a division artillery. The 4th Infantry Division's official nickname, "Ivy", is a play on words of the Roman numeral ''IV'' or 4. Ivy leaves symbolize tenacity and fidelity which is the basis of the division's motto: "Steadfast and Loyal". The second nickname, "Iron Horse", has been adopted to underscore the speed and power of the division and its soldiers. World War I The 4th Division was organized at Camp Greene, North Carolina on 10 December 1917 under the command of Maj. Gen. George H. Cameron. It was here they adopted their distinctive insignia, the four ivy leaves. The ivy leaf came from the Roman numerals for four (IV) and signified their motto "Steadfast and Loyal". The division was organized a ...
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Ricin
Ricin ( ) is a lectin (a carbohydrate-binding protein) and a highly potent toxin produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant, ''Ricinus communis''. The median lethal dose (LD50) of ricin for mice is around 22 micrograms per kilogram of body weight via intraperitoneal injection. Oral exposure to ricin is far less toxic. An estimated lethal oral dose in humans is approximately 1 milligram per kilogram of body weight. Ricin was first described by Peter Hermann Stillmark, the founder of lectinology. Biochemistry Ricin is classified as a type 2 ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP). Whereas type 1 RIPs are composed of a single protein chain that possesses catalytic activity, type 2 RIPs, also known as holotoxins, are composed of two different protein chains that form a heterodimeric complex. Type 2 RIPs consist of an A chain that is functionally equivalent to a type 1 RIP, covalently connected by a single disulfide bond to a B chain that is catalytically inactive, but se ...
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Kurdish People
ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. There are exclaves of Kurds in Central Anatolia, Khorasan, and the Caucasus, as well as significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey (in particular Istanbul) and Western Europe (primarily in Germany). The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million. Kurds speak the Kurdish languages and the Zaza–Gorani languages, which belong to the Western Iranian branch of the Iranian languages. After World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the victorious Western allies made provision for a Kurdish state in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres. However, that promise was broken three years later, when the Treaty of Lausanne set the boundaries of modern Turkey and made no ...
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Mullah Krekar
Najmuddin Vahid Faraj Ahmad ( ku, نەجمەدین وەحید فەرەج ئەحمەد, July 7, 1956), better known as Mullah Krekar ( ku, مه‌لا کرێکار), is an Iraqi Kurdish Sunni Islamic scholar and militiant who was the founder and former leader of Islamist militiant group Ansar al-Islam. He is currently serving a prison sentence in Italy, after having been extradited from Norway in 2020. He came to Norway as a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991. His wife, Rukhosh Ahmad, and his four children have Norwegian citizenship, but not Krekar himself. He speaks Kurdish, Arabic, Persian, Norwegian and English. Krekar was the original leader of the Islamist armed group Ansar al-Islam, which was set up and commenced operations in Northern Iraq while he had refugee status in Norway. Krekar claims, however, not to have had foreknowledge of the various terrorist attacks performed by the group he was leading. Since February 2003 he has an expulsion order against him, whic ...
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Terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war against non-combatants (mostly civilians and neutral military personnel). The terms "terrorist" and "terrorism" originated during the French Revolution of the late 18th century but became widely used internationally and gained worldwide attention in the 1970s during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Basque conflict, and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The increased use of suicide attacks from the 1980s onwards was typified by the 2001 September 11 attacks in the United States. There are various different definitions of terrorism, with no universal agreement about it. Terrorism is a charged term. It is often used with the connotation of something that is "morally wrong". Govern ...
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Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. In Arabic, the term ''sharīʿah'' refers to God's immutable divine law and is contrasted with ''fiqh'', which refers to its human scholarly interpretations. In the historical course, fiqh sects have emerged that reflect the preferences of certain societies and state administrations on behalf of people who are interested in the theoretical (method) and practical application ( Ahkam / fatwa) studies of laws and rules, but sharia has never been a valid legal system on its own. It has been used together with " customary (Urf) law" since Omar or the Umayyads. It may also be wrong to think that the Sharia, as a religious argument or belief, is entirely within or related to Allah's commands and prohibitions. Several non-graded crime ...
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