The 8th Division is a division of the
Iraqi Army
The Iraqi Ground Forces ( Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army ( Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the co ...
. Before being reformed after 2004 it was part of the previous Iraqi Army. Just before the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Counci ...
it was located at
Erbil
Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000.
H ...
as part of the
1st Corps.
[Malovany, Wars of Modern Babylon, 2017, 83-84.] The 8th Division is composed of former
Iraqi National Guard units, some of which were formed as early as 2004, but the division headquarters did not assume control of its area of operations until January 2006.
On 7 September 2006, Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki
Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice presiden ...
signed a document taking control of Iraq's small naval and air forces and the 8th Iraqi Army Division, based in the south. The 8th Division's commander, Brig. Gen. Othman al-Farhoud, told the Associated Press his forces still needed support from the
U.S.-led Coalition for things such as medical assistance, storage facilities and air support, stating:
"In my opinion, it will take time before his division was completely self-sufficient."
As of March 2007, the division commander was still Othman Ali Farhood, but he had been promoted to Major General. The division took part in
Operation Lion's Leap in November 2007.
In 2010 the division comprises: (DJ Elliot, Montrose Toast, Information Cut Off, 28 February 2010)
*Division Headquarters,
Diwaniyah
*30th Commando (Motorised) Brigade, HQ
Wasit
Wasit ( ar, وَاسِط, Wāsiṭ, syr, ܘܐܣܛ) is an ancient city in Wasit Governorate, south east of Kut in eastern Iraq.
History
The city was built by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in c. 702 CE on the west bank of the Tigris across from the his ...
*31st Commando (Motorised) Brigade, HQ
Diwaniyah
*32nd Commando (Motorised) Brigade, HQ
Kut
*33rd Commando (Motorised) Brigade, HQ Hussainiyah (Karbala)
*8th Field Engineer Regiment, Diwaniyah
*8th Transport and Provisioning Regiment,
Numaniyah/Diwaniyah
Notes
Bibliography
*
*.
External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20100401100920/http://www.understandingwar.org/files/reports/Backgrounder06.pdf
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Divisions of Iraq
Military units and formations established in 2004