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Iraqi Special Operations Forces

Iraqi Special Operations Forces
Special Operations Iraq SSI.svg
ISOF SSI
Active December 26, 2003 – Present
Country  Iraq
Branch Iraqi Army
Type Special Forces
Size 18,000
Part of Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (reports directly to Prime Minister of Iraq)
Motto(s) May you sleep peacefully in your bed tonight for a mighty sword stands ready to strike fear in the hearts of those who would terrorize us!
Engagements Anti-guerrilla operations in Iraq as part of the Iraq War
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
Commanders
Current
commander
Lieutenant-General Talib Shaghati
Insignia
ICTB Flag Flag of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Bureau.svg
ISOF flag Special Operations Iraq Flag.svg

Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) (Arabic: قوات العمليات الخاصة العراقية‎‎) are Iraqi special forces unit created by coalition forces after the 2003 invasion. The forces, directed by the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service, consist of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Command, which has three brigades subordinate to it. The Counter Terrorism Service (Jihaz Mukafahah al-Irhab, originally translated as Counter Terrorism Bureau) is funded by the Iraq Ministry of Defence.

Special operations troops in the old Iraqi army were first established when Colonel Khaleel Jassim Al-Dabbagh built the first royal special units in the name of "Queen Alia Forces" in the mid 1950s. It consisted of Sunni, Shia Arabs and other components of Iraqi population. They were mainly used on an emergency basis to carry out special missions inside of Iraq and outside when the country was in war.

After the Invasion in 2003, Iraqi forces were made redundant by the Invasion forces and because of this, the current Iraqi commando force were recruited from scratch, mostly from Shia Arabs, Kurds and few Sunni. In November 2005, after training in Jordan with Jordanian Special Forces and US Army Special Forces ("Green Berets"), the Iraqi Special Operations Force had 1,440 men trained, composed into two combat battalions, considered equal in training and combat effectiveness to an average US Army Infantry battalion, and two support battalions.

In March 2008, the force consisted of a single brigade which in turn was made up of an Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Force (ICTF) battalion, three Commando battalions, a support battalion and a special reconnaissance unit.


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