The Battle of Karbala took place during the 2003 invasion of Iraq as U.S. troops fought to take control of the city from Iraqi forces. The city had been bypassed during the advance on Baghdad, leaving American units to clear it in two days of street fighting against Iraqi Saddam Fedayeen

Irregular forces Irregular military is any military component distinct from a country's regular armed forces, representing non-standard militant elements outside of conventional governmental backing. Irregular elements can consist of militias, private armie ...

Bypassing the city

Lead elements of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division had reached the

Karbala Karbala is a major city in central Iraq. It is the capital of Karbala Governorate. With an estimated population of 691,100 people in 2024, Karbala is the second largest city in central Iraq, after Baghdad. The city is located about southwest ...

area on 31 March. After fighting through Republican Guard forces southeast of the city, these forces bypassed the city and attacked through the Karbala Gap towards

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. The task of clearing the city was left to the

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinat ...

, supported by the 2nd Battalion,

70th Armor Regiment The 70th Armor Regiment is an armored (tank) unit of the United States Army. It was constituted as the 70th Tank Battalion in July 1940, an independent tank battalion intended to provide close support to infantry units. In this role, it saw acti ...

with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division. On 2 April, a U.S. Army

UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift military utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted a design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) ...

helicopter crashed near Karbala, killing 7 soldiers. Four other soldiers on board were wounded. Though initial reports said the Blackhawk was shot down, the Army later concluded the cause was accidental.

Capturing Karbala

The 101st planned to use helicopter-borne forces to seize three landing zones on the outskirts of the city (codenamed Sparrow, Finch and Robin) and then use an armored force of

M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams () is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare, it is one of the heavies ...

tanks and M2 Bradley fighting vehicles to link up with these forces. At 11:00 a.m. on 5 April, the 101st Airborne began its push to clear Karbala when airstrikes hit several targets around the city. This was followed by a helicopter assault in which 23 UH-60 Blackhawk and 5

CH-47 Chinook The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem-rotor helicopter originally developed by American rotorcraft company Piasecki Helicopter, Vertol and now manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The Chinook is a Military transport helicopter, heav ...

helicopters ferried three battalions of infantry from the 502nd Infantry Regiment to their designated landing zones. 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry at LZ Sparrow met heavy but disorganized resistance as they moved into the city. To the south, 2/502 at LZ Robin was also moving street by street, and discovered several arms caches hidden in schools. They also discovered a suspected insurgent training camp. By nightfall, 2/502 had cleared 13 of their 30 assigned sectors. 1/502, advancing from LZ Finch in the southeast, captured several weapons caches. Air support from helicopter gunships was used heavily during this operation, and artillery support was also used. Over 100 smoke shells were fired from supporting artillery to screen infantry moving through Karbala's streets. At the same time, 2/70 Armored Regiment and C Co 1/41 IN (Mechanized) had reached Karbala and were engaged in combat, losing 1 man killed from small arms fire and a Bradley to a

rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), also known colloquially as a rocket launcher, is a Shoulder-fired missile, shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon that launches rockets equipped with a Shaped charge, shaped-charge explosive warhead. Most RPGs can ...

hit. The next day, the units continued to clear their sectors. Resistance evaporated by 5:00 PM on 6 April. At 5:30, a large statue of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

was torn down by members of the 2/70, 1st Armored Division. For their actions in Karbala, 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry, 101st Airborne Division was awarded the Valorous Unit Award.

Bypassing the city

Capturing Karbala

References

Further reading