War and Conflict Journal

Iraq War Battles

Was the Iraq War worth it?  With nearly 5,000 American dead, hundreds of thousands (at least) Iraqi dead, a Shiite regime in power in Baghdad, increasing tensions between the Arab Iraqis and the Kurdish Iraqis, and a plethora of other issues, was the war worth it from the American Perspective?

For more resources  on the Iraq War, see http://www.historyguy.com/iraq_war_links.html
Iraq
War Combat Video

Feel free to add your comments below on the worth of the Iraq War.

On August 18, 2011, squads of heavily-armed Popular Resistance Committee (PRC)  guerrillas from Gaza travelled about 120 miles through Egyptian Sinai to attack Israeli citizens near the southern Israeli city of Eilat, killing eight Israelis. Israel retaliated with airstrikes on targets inside Gaza. The PRC is a relatively small Palestinian resistance group that has at times served as an ally of Hamas.

This attack on Israel took place just as Egyptian forces began targeting Salafist Islamist guerrillas who have been attacking Egyptian  pipelines in the Sinai. These attacks by bySalafist Islamist forces believed tied to al-Qaida, prompted Egypt’s military rulers to seek permission from both Israel (due to troop level restrictions in their mutual peace agreement), and from Hamas, the Palestinian faction that rules over Gaza.  Egypt sent over 1,000 security forces backed by armored personell carriers launched a campaign to defeat the Islamist guerrillas.

 http://www.historyguy.com/gaza_war.htm#gazawar2011

http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_egypt.html

See also:

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Syrian Uprising Timeline

(2011)

Syrian Flag

Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria

Syria has been a dictatorship run by the Assad family since 1970. In that year, Hafez al-Assad, the Defense Minister, launched a coup that put him in power. Upon the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000, his son, Bashar al-Assad, became President of Syria. Both Assads used terror and force to remain in power. The elder Assad suppressed a rebellion in 1982 in the city of Hama by unleashing the Syrian military on that city. At least 10,000 people, mostly innocent civilians, died in that uprising.In March, 2011, as part of the “Arab Spring” rebellions throughout the Middle East, protests began in Syria, and rose to the level of an anti-government uprising resulting in at least hundreds of deaths. for a timeline of the Syrian unrest and uprisings of 2011, go to http://www.historyguy.com/syrian_uprising_2011.htm

The Libyan War

 http://www.historyguy.com/libyan_war_2011.htm

Libyan rebels hoisting the pre-Gadhafi Libyan flag

The Libyan War began as a protest movement against long-time Libyan leader Colonel Muamar Gadhafi and quickly escalated into a full-scale civil war. As the Libyan government forces increased their use of deadly force on the rebels, the United Nations imposed a “No-Fly Zone” over Libya in order to “protect Libyan civilians.” The Libyan No-Fly Zone’s enforcement was undertaken by a coalition of European nations and the United States. The Libyan No-Fly Zone was begun with airstrikes and ship-borne missile strikes at Libyan air-defence installations as well as Libyan ground forces.Names of the Conflict:

The Libyan War of 2011Libyan No-Fly Zone War

Libyan Uprising of 2011

Libyan Civil War

Operational Names of Nations Intervening in Libya:

Operation Odyssey Dawn (United States)Operation Ellamy (United Kingdom)

Opération Harmattan (France)

Operation Mobile (Canada)

DATES OF CONFLICT:

BEGAN: February 15, 2011–Protests against the Libyan government began

Foreign Intervention Began: March 19, 2011

ENDED: Ongoing

 Libyan War Sources and Links:

Libya Uprising 2011–Wikipedia article

The Libyan War of 2011-Stratfor

2011 military intervention in Libya–Wikipedia article

Is It a War? Libya Terminology Is Tangled–Wall Street Journal

Events in Libya February 24, 2011:

–Forces loyal to the Libyan government counter-attacked rebels in the town of Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, and at the small airport outside Misrata, Libya’s third largest city.

–World oil prices reached $120 a barrel due to concerns over the violence in Libya and the fear of further revolt in the oil-producing regions of the Middle East.

–Gadhafi’s cousin, Gadhaf al-Dam, an aide who served as Gadhafi’s personal ambassador to other nations, defected to Egypt and denounced the Libyan dictator.

Libyan History:

http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_libya.htm

http://www.historyguy.com/libya_unrest_timeline_2011.htm

Political Unrest in Libya Timeline

(February, 2011)

Libyan Flag

  February 14–Three days after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, calls go out on Facebook for peaceful demonstrations in Libya against long-time dictator, Muammar Gadhafi. Gadhaff has ruled over Libya for more than four decades, and had supported theMubarak during the Egyptian uprising.

February 16–Some 200 protestersin the coastal city of Benghazi showed support for human rights activist Fathi Terbil a dissident lawyer. Several protesters are arrested by the police.

February 17–Libya’s state-run media claimes that the government has released 110 political prisoners and that the possibility existed of major changes to the government. Calls are again posted on websites for a “Day of Rage” on the five-year anniversary of the shooting deaths of 14 protesters in 2006 in an Islamist rally in Benghazi. Seven people are killed in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters.

February 18–Pro-government demonstrators take to the streets in the nation’s capital in support of Gadhafi. Images from state television, labeled as “live,” feature men chanting pro-Gadhafi slogans, waving flags and singing around the Libyan leader’s limousine as it creeps through the capital of Tripoli. In Benghazi, human rights groups and protesters are attacked by pro-government security forces. Of the tens of thousands of protesters who take to the streets, at least 20 are killed and 200 are wounded by security forces firing into the crowds.

February 19–Protests turn more violent. In Benghazi, bloody clashes erupt, with soldiers firing tear gas and bullets at the crowds of protesters. At least 30 people are killed, most of them from gunshot wounds to the head. Protests have erupt in cities across the country, including al-Baida, Ajdabiya and Misratah, where anti-government protesters leaving noon prayers at a local mosque were confronted by crowds supporting oLibyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Human Rights Watch reports that 84 people have been killed in Libyan demonstrations since Tuesday.

February 20–Violence surges in Libya’s second-largest city Benghazi where protesters take control of the city. Anti-government demonstrations also break out in Tripoli, the death toll from six days of unrest has killed at least 219 people nationwide.

February 21–Early on the morning of Monday, February 21, Gadhafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, appears on state television to warn demonstrators that if their protests do not subside, the country could fall into a civil war.

http://www.historyguy.com/libya_unrest_timeline_2011.htm

Apparantly learning from the fall of long-ruling regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, Bahrain’s military took control of the capital Thursday, February 17, 2011, only hours after riot police firing birdshot, rubber bullets and teargas stormed an anti-government protest camp, killing at least five people and wounding more than 230. The Bahrain government, dominated by the minority Sunnis, moved swiftly to crush the nascent, largely Shiite-led protests against the government. The implications for the United States if Bahrain falls to the Shiites, or falls into violent chaos, are very serious. Bahrain serves as the “home port” for the United States Navy’s 5th Fleet, and is therefore a bulwark for the whole Sunni-dominated Arabian Peninsula against influence and power from Shiite-ruled Iran.

A new timeline of the unrest and the revolt in Egypt is now at http://www.historyguy.com/egypt_unrest_timeline_2011.htm

Egyptian Troops in Cairo

New Gaza war ‘a question of when, not if’

The UN says at least 62 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli action in Gaza so far this year

A senior Israeli army officer has told the BBC that as long as Hamas remains in control of the Gaza Strip, another war is “a question of when, not if”.

He said the Palestinian Islamist group had rearmed so much since the Israeli offensive two years ago that it was now in a stronger position militarily.

There has been an increase in rocket fire coming from Gaza in the past week.

Earlier, Israeli defense officials said tanks fitted with a new missile defense system would be deployed near Gaza.

The Israeli-developed active protection system (APS) known as Trophy is designed to destroy missiles like the Russian-made AT-14 Kornet, one of which hit a Merkava Mk3 tank on 6 December.

The laser-guided missile – which carries 10kg (22lb) of high explosive – penetrated the tank’s armour, but did not injure its crew.

“Fortunately, it did not explode within the tank. It is a heavy missile that is among the most dangerous that we have seen on this front and was not used even during the Lebanon war,” Israeli Chief-of-Staff Lt-Gen Gabi Ashkenazi told a closed-door parliamentary session on Tuesday.

According to  Lt-Gen Gabi Ashkenazi Israeli Chief-of-Staff

“The situation in the south is very fragile and explosive.”

The Trophy APS, which has so far been fitted to a battalion of more advanced Merkava Mk4 tanks, uses radars and sensors to identify threats, then releases special explosives to neutralize them.

No Palestinian militant groups have said they were behind the attack.

Hamas is not thought to have been behind the increased rocket fire from Gaza this week, to which Israel retaliated with air strikes.

However, Israel has said it will increase attacks on Hamas facilities even if the movement is not responsible.

The UN has said at least 62 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli action in Gaza so far this year. Over the same period, one Thai farm worker has been killed by rockets fired from the coastal territory into Israel.

Israel’s 22-day clash with Palestinian militants in Gaza left an estimated 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.