Stealing the Enemy’s Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr City

From March 23 to May 12, 2008, US Army and Iraq security forces engaged in an intense urban battle in and around Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. Northeastern Baghdad contained a large JAM presence within Sadr City, but also a large AQI presence in neighboring Sunni areas—Adhamiya to the northwest, Rusafa to the southwest, and Tisa Nissan to the southeast—and the boundaries between Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods were often only demarcated by single roads, making it a fertile sectarian battleground. While the American and ISF units in Thawra District had begun to isolate Sadr City with their safe neighborhoods and other lines of operations, JAM retained firm control over the population and the terrain.

Source: mwi.usma.edu