Siege of U.K. bases in Basra

Siege of UK bases in Basra
Part of the Post-invasion Iraq
Map of UK bases in Basra. Airport on the left. Basra Palace on the right.
Date 27 February - 3 September 2007 (6 months and 1 week) Location Basra, Iraq Result British withdrawal from inner city Basra. Denmark withdraw and exit the war.
Belligerents
United Kingdom Denmark	Mahdi Army
Commanders and leaders
	Muqtada al-Sadr Wissam Abu Qader †
Strength
6,200	unknown
Casualties and losses
32 killed (UK) 1 killed (DK)	unknown

Muqtada al-Sadr

The Siege of UK bases in Basra was conducted and maintained by the Mahdi Army in Basra for most of 2007. Following the reported success of the coalition Operation Sinbad, whose purpose was to stabilise Basra and prepare it for the turning over of security to Iraqi government forces, the city was overrun by insurgent forces from three different militia forces, including the Mahdi Army, and the British found themselves under siege in their bases and capable of conducting only limited raids in armoured convoys into the city.

By this point in the war there were only two British bases left in Basra. One was on the outskirts of the city at the Basra Airport with a garrison of 5,000 soldiers. The second, which took most of the brunt of the fighting, was in the city center at Basra Palace, a former palace of Saddam Hussein, with a garrison of 700 soldiers.

The first British soldier that was killed in the city, following operation Sinbad, was killed on 27 February returning to the Shatt-Al-Arab Hotel.

The airport base was being constantly hit by mortar and rocket fire during the siege but the Basra City battlegroup at the palace was involved in most of the fighting.

The Uti Triangle, a flat zone combining open wasteland, marsh and clustered buildings, was being used by the Mahdi army to conduct the mortar and rocket attacks on both the airport and the palace.

More than 300 rockets hit the airport in the two months between June and August. Sniper attacks were also a deadly and common occurrence for British soldiers as well as IED attacks on patrols that were going out of the bases. The IED attacks and organised ambushes also hit convoys from the airport that were transporting needed food, fuel, ammunition and other equipment for the palace. Convoys were primarily used for this task because helicopters couldn't be used because of the high risk of being shot down.

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