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Iraqi War Games: Army Trains in Desert, Defeats 'Militants'

Australian and New Zealand coalition forces participate in a training mission with Iraqi army soldiers at Taji Base, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Australian and New Zealand coalition forces participate in a training mission with Iraqi army soldiers at Taji Base, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
    TAJI BASE, Iraq- Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iraqi War Games: Army Trains in Desert, Defeats 'Militants'

Australian and New Zealand coalition forces participate in a training mission with Iraqi army soldiers at Taji Base, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Australian and New Zealand coalition forces participate in a training mission with Iraqi army soldiers at Taji Base, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

The "militants" were holding on stubbornly to their position in the scabrous desert outside Baghdad, blocking the Iraqi troops' advance when an infantry unit sprung out of the right flank, forcing the enemy into a hasty retreat.

At first glance, it looked real, but the scenario playing out this week was not an operation against the ISIS group but a military exercise. The "militants" were Iraqi soldiers, and the guns were firing blanks.

The exercise was the final day in the drill of the 2,000-strong Iraqi brigade, the latest group to receive combat training from Australian, New Zealand, and Singaporean coalition forces at the sprawling Taji military base, north of Baghdad. It's known as Task Group Taji 8 and the maneuver displayed some of the tactics drilled into the brigade during the eight-week course.

Since before last month's final territorial defeat the ISIS group in Syria, when the militants lost the last pocket of their so-called caliphate to coalition-backed forces, the US-led international coalition has been training Iraqi forces to secure the country against lingering threats posed by cells of Daesh - the Arabic name for ISIS - operating in the countryside.

"While the physical caliphate of Daesh has been defeated, Daesh is still in insurgency mode at this stage," said Col. Jason Groat, commander the Task Group Taji 8 force drilling the Iraqi army. He used the Arabic acronym for ISIS, which

The ISIS at its height in the summer of 2014 , commanded a pseudo-state that stretched across a third of both Syria and Iraq and included Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city. Today, the group is a shadow of what it once was - ISIS no longer holds any urban areas on congruous stretch of territory but still mounts kidnappings, ambushes, and assassinations in rural Iraq.

"Our job is to keep the Iraqi security forces trained up to speed and make sure they can defeat Daesh whatever phase of the war they happen to be in," Groat added.

Training the Iraqi army is a core objective of the coalition. Poorly trained and equipped, underfunded, and corrupted in the decade after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the army disintegrated in the face of ISIS sweeping advance.

It was then that the Iraqi parliament voted to invite international forces back into the country, to turn the tide in the war against ISIS.

But with ISIS defeated, the talk in Baghdad has again turned to whether foreign forces should stay. There are currently about 5,200 US troops supporting Iraqi operations in mop-up operations in the countryside.

If they are ordered out, the training by the 340-strong Task Group Taji 8 could be a collateral casualty. The group has trained 44,000 Iraqi soldiers since 2015.

Col. Groat says his men will continue training Iraqi forces as long as the Iraqi government wants them to.

"We'll be here until the job is done," he said.

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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

In the Mazzeh 86 neighborhood, west of the Syrian capital Damascus, the names of many shops, grocery stores, and public squares still serve as a reminder of the era of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad.

This is evident in landmarks like the “Al-Hafez Restaurant,” one of the prominent features of this area. Squares such as “Al-Areen,” “Officers,” and “Bride of the Mountain” evoke memories of the buildings surrounding them, which once housed influential officials and high-ranking officers in intelligence and security agencies. These individuals instilled fear in Syrians for five decades until their historic escape on the night of the regime’s collapse last month.

In this neighborhood, the effects of Israeli bombing are clearly visible, as it was targeted multiple times. Meanwhile, its narrow streets and alleys were strewn with military uniforms abandoned by leaders who fled before military operations arrived and liberated the area from their grip on December 8 of last year.

Here, stark contradictions come to light during a tour by Asharq Al-Awsat in a district that, until recently, was largely loyal to the former president. Muaz, a 42-year-old resident of the area, recounts how most officers and security personnel shed their military uniforms and discarded them in the streets on the night of Assad’s escape.

He said: “Many of them brought down their weapons and military ranks in the streets and fled to their hometowns along the Syrian coast.”

Administratively part of Damascus, Mazzeh 86 consists of concrete blocks randomly built between the Mazzeh Western Villas area, the Mazzeh Highway, and the well-known Sheikh Saad commercial district. Its ownership originally belonged to the residents of the Mazzeh area in Damascus. The region was once agricultural land and rocky mountain terrain. The peaks extending toward Mount Qasioun were previously seized by the Ministry of Defense, which instructed security and army personnel to build homes there without requiring property ownership documents.

Suleiman, a 30-year-old shop owner, who sells white meat and chicken, hails from the city of Jableh in the coastal province of Latakia. His father moved to this neighborhood in the 1970s to work as an army assistant.

Suleiman says he hears the sound of gunfire every evening, while General Security patrols roam the streets “searching for remnants of the former regime and wanted individuals who refuse to surrender their weapons. We fear reprisals and just want to live in peace.”

He mentioned that prices before December 8 were exorbitant and beyond the purchasing power of Syrians, with the price of a kilogram of chicken exceeding 60,000 Syrian pounds and a carton of eggs reaching 75,000.

“A single egg was sold for 2,500 pounds, which is far beyond the purchasing power of any employee in the public or private sector,” due to low salaries and the deteriorating living conditions across the country,” Suleiman added.

On the sides of the roads, pictures of the fugitive president and his father, Hafez al-Assad, were torn down, while military vehicles were parked, awaiting instructions.

Maram, 46, who previously worked as a civilian employee in the Ministry of Defense, says she is waiting for the resolution of employment statuses for workers in army institutions. She stated: “So far, there are no instructions regarding our situation. The army forces and security personnel have been given the opportunity for settlement, but there is no talk about us.”

The neighborhood, in its current form, dates back to the 1980s when Rifaat al-Assad, the younger brother of former President Hafez al-Assad, was allowed to construct the “Defense Palace,” which was referred to as “Brigade 86.” Its location is the same area now known as Mazzeh Jabal 86.

The area is divided into two parts: Mazzeh Madrasa (School) and Mazzeh Khazan (Tank). The first takes its name from the first school built and opened in the area, while the second is named after the water tank that supplies the entire Mazzeh region.

Two sources from the Mazzeh Municipality and the Mukhtar’s office estimate the neighborhood’s current population at approximately 200,000, down from over 300,000 before Assad’s fall. Most residents originate from Syria’s coastal regions, followed by those from interior provinces like Homs and Hama. There was also a portion of Kurds who had moved from the Jazira region in northeastern Syria to live there, but most returned to their areas due to the security grip and after the “Crisis Cell” bombing that killed senior security officials in mid-2012.

Along the main street connecting Al-Huda Square to Al-Sahla Pharmacy, torn images of President Hafez al-Assad are visible for the first time in this area in five decades. On balconies and walls, traces of Bashar al-Assad’s posters remain, bearing witness to his 24-year era.