Military

11th Infantry Division

As of 1997 the 11th Division consisted of Infantry Brigades 23, 45, and 47. Its headquarters was east of Nassiriya on the road to Ur Military Camp, near the Ali Ibn Abi Talib airbase.

As the ground offensive progressed, by 25 February 1991 Iraqi units' ineffectiveness became more clear. The Iraqi 19th, 11th, and 15th Infantry divisions and three SF brigades in Kuwait City were assessed at full strength. These divisions continued to focus on an amphibious assault and prepare for military operations in Kuwait City.

In advance of Operation DESERT FOX in late 1998 the Iraqi government took a series of steps to prepare for war and its possible internal consequences. On 16 December 1998, Baghad announced the establishment of four regional military commands "in order to provide what is needed to confront and destroy any foreign aggression and its related repercussions." Saddam appointed the Takriti Staff General 'Ali Hasan Al-Majid commander of the Southern Region, one of his most ruthless loyalists. Al-Majid was responsible for the forceful transfer of civilians from Kuwait after Iraq occupied it in 1990. And he was also involved in the brutal suppression of supposedly anti-Saddam Shi'ites. Ali Hassan Al-Majid was famed for burning the orchards of Kurdistan, and was appointed governor of Kuwait during the seven months occupation of the emirate.

Division 11 of the Third Corps of the Iraqi Army, and its supporting forces, launched a major assault on the area of the Marshes of southern Iraq on 11/1/1997. The operation lasted a whole week. A variety of weapons were used in the assault, including a preliminary heavy artillery attack. Iraqi opposition forces were able to inflict heavy losses in men and materiel on Division 11, and prevented it from achieving its goals.

General Al-Majid ordered the execution of at least half a dozen officers immediately after he took control of the predominantly Shia southern region. General Al-Majid quickly took action against dissident military elements, including the commander of the XI Mechanized Division in 'Amarah. According to Kuwait Radio on 20 December 1998, the commander of that unit was executed because he felt that "the task of the army is to defend the homeland and not to confront the people." The commander of the 11th Mechanized Division in the southern city of Aramaic objected to arrangements made by General al-Majid to counter Shia in case they rebelled again. He was not identified but believed to be from the same clan as Al-Majid and Saddam. '' This is counter productive sir and we only going to harvest trouble,'' the colonel is reported to have argued when he was order by General Al-Majid to set up road blocks outside villages effectively putting the residents under siege. '' I have been trained to deter the enemy not to fight my own people,'' he argued sharply when General Al-Majid accused him of cowardice. He was executed by a firing squad. Several other officers close to the commander were also executed on the same day by a firing squad in front of other officers. A statement released by the anti-Saddam Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and published by Al-Hayah on 21 December 1998 also refers to the 'Amarah executions and what it described as a short-lived military revolt in the Al-Rashid camp. According to this report, five other high-ranking officers were executed.

In March 1999, the 11th Division bombarded many areas in Nasiriyah, and Ba'ath Party militia followed with sweeps against the Amarya tribe, which included incidents of looting. In May 1999, the Government launched a mass arrest campaign in the al-Alam, ad-Dawara, and Nahr al-Iz areas. In June 1999, "Saddam's Commandos" attacked villages between Qala'at Salih and al-Kahla in Amara province and arrested and tortured a Shi'a businessman in Amara as a pretext for confiscating his savings.

In August 1999 it was reported that Iran and Iraq had moved huge military units toward their common border areas in the biggest move of its kind since the war between the two countries ended in 1988," London's. Iraqi troops from the 10th and 11th Divisions and a number of armored brigades had concentrated in the border area and on the right bank of the Shatt Al-Arab. At the same time, Iran reportedly had strengthened its military presence on the other side of the Shatt Al-Arab.

Iraqi forces resumed military operations in south on 08 April 2000. On 13 April, forces of the regime attacked the resistance headquarters in the areas of Northern Rumeila, Al-Abayyedh, west of Ghubeishiya by 13 Km, north of the main confluence by 5 Km. The regime's participating units were an infantry brigade from the 11th Division and an armored brigade from the 6th Armored Division.