The Siege of Sadr City was a United States and Iraqi Army military blockade of the Shia-majority Baghdad slum of Sadr City which occurred from 2004 to 2008 during the Iraq War. Sadr City went from being "the safest place in Iraq" in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq to being a stronghold of the Mahdi Army insurgent group of Muqtada al-Sadr. Starting with the "Black Sunday" uprising against the US 1st Cavalry Division, the fighting for Sadr City evolved into a bloody counter-insurgency operation which lasted until 2008, when a ceasefire was signed and the Iraqi government was allowed to enter and patrol Sadr City.
Background[]
On 28 March 2004, the infamously inefficient United States overseer of Iraq, Paul Bremer, ordered the 60-day closure of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's newspaper al-Hawza, after it was accused of inciting violence against the occupation. The next day, thousands of Iraqis rallied outside of the paper's Sadr City, Baghdad offices in support of the newspaper. On 3 April 2004, the arrest of Sadr's lieutenant Mustafa Yaqoubi sparked further protests, and, on 4 April 2004, Sadr ordered his followers to stop staging demonstrations because, according to him, the Americans preferred terrorism.
Siege[]
The "Black Sunday" ambush in Sadr City.
On the same day as Sadr's proclamation, his Mahdi Army supporters staged an uprising against the US 1st Cavalry Division in Sadr City, ambushing them shortly after they departed from a mosque where they had briefly disarmed the local guards before being ordered to give their guns back. Lieutenant Shane Aguero's convoy of Humvees was ambushed on an empty street, with Mahdi Army insurgents firing on the convoy from nearby balconies and engaging in small arms and RPG fire. Eight US troops were killed and 51 injured, but US soldiers from the 759th Military Police Battalion regained control of the local policemen after killing 35 Mahdi Army insurgents. However, many of Sadr City's slum areas remained under the control of the Mahdi Army, and the US did not initially blockade Sadr City due to their lack of nearby military checkpoints; before then, Sadr City was regarded as the safest place in Iraq, as it did not have violent incident since the invasion. In the coming months, the Mahdi Army engaged in near-constant combat with the American and Iraqi forces. By 2006, nearly 80% of Baghdad was in the hands of the insurgency, and an intense sectarian turf war broke out between Sunni and Shia Iraqi insurgents. On 23 November 2006, a series of car bombs and mortar attacks on Sadr City killed around 215 civilians and injured around 257. Rogue Mahdi Army militiamen retaliated by forming death squads and killing thousands of Sunnis in their own neighborhoods. In 2007, the British SAS were deployed to Sadr City for the first time, suffering several injuries during the course of their deployment. In February 2007, the Coalition launched Operation Imposing Law to recapture Baghdad from the insurgents, engaging in heavy street battles on each block and in each neighborhood. Sadr City was to be taken last, and, from August 2007 to March 2008, the Mahdi Army declared a ceasefire with the government. During the Iraqi spring fighting of 2008, violence once again broke out in Sadr City, and, on 28 March, 500 Iraqi policemen defected to the Mahdi Army. From 23 to 31 March, 180 militants and 150 civilians were killed during heavy street fighting, as were nine US soldiers and a number of Iraqis. Unmanned Predator drones fired Hellfire missiles at militants every day, and, by 11 April, US and Iraqi forces had advanced down the main road and set up a forward defense line inside the district. By 18 April, a quarter of Sadr City was in American hands. The Americans fought against the Iran-backed Special Groups during their sweep, killing one of their leaders in a drone strike. On 11 May, a ceasefire went into effect, and, by 21 May, Iraqi security forces (aided by tanks) had secured the entirety of Sadr City from rogue Mahdi Army militants, and the remainder dispersed among the civilian population with their weapons.