Operation Steel Curtain

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Image:OPsteel curtain 2005.JPG
A U.S. Marine and Iraqi Army soldiers watch over the surrounding streets from a rooftop in Karabilah, Iraq, during Operation Steel Curtain on Nov. 11, 2005.

Date	November 05–November 17, 2005
Location	Husaybah,Karabilah,Ubaydi, Iraq
Result	Tactically indecisive; U.S. strategic victory

Combatants

United States Marine Corps, New Iraqi Army

Iraqi insurgents

Commanders

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Casualties

10 KIA,30 WIA [1]

169 insurgents KIA,54 civilians KIA,208 insurgents captured

Iraq War
Phases Invasion – Post-invasion (Insurgency – Civil War) Engagements Nasiriyah – Baghdad – Debecka Pass – Peninsula Strike –Red Dawn – 1st Fallujah – 1st Ramadi – Husaybah – Najaf – 2nd Fallujah – Matador – *Steel Curtain* – Al-Askari Mosque – 2nd Ramadi – Together Forward Full list of Coalition operations This box: view • talk • edit</div>

Operation Steel Curtain was a military endeavor executed by coalition forces in early November 2005 to blunt the protrusion of foreign insurgents crossing the border and joining the Iraqi insurgency. The operation was important in that it was the first large scale deployment of the New Iraqi Army. Operation Steel Curtain was a phase in the larger military offensive, Operation Hunter.

[edit] The Operation

On November 5, the U.S. Marines began their assault on insurgent-held Husaybah, and had cleared the city four days later. Then on November 10 the coalition forces began to attack the city of Karabilah and pursue any insurgents who fled Husaybah. After four more days of fighting in Karabilah, the coalition troops launched another phase of the operation into the city of Ubaydi, an insurgent haven and site of the earlier Operation Matador. The fortified city fell to coalition forces after seven days of fighting, bringing a conclusion to Operation Steel Curtain.

[edit] Aftermath

U.S. officials reported that the operation killed 169 insurgents and took 208 more prisoner, and considered it successful. Battle positions were contructed, preventing the insurgency from regaining control of the city. At least 10 U.S. marines and an unknown number of Iraqi soldiers died.

This operation may have been named after the Pittsburgh Steelers American football team^{[citation needed]}, whose hard-nosed defense has been known as the "Steel Curtain" since the 1970s. The Steelers won the Super Bowl just months after the operation was completed.