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The Battle of Basra lasted from March 21, 2003 to April 6, 2003 and was one of the first battles of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The British 7 Armoured Brigade fought their way into Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, on 6 April coming under constant attack by the Iraqi Army 51st Division and Fedayeen.〔"The city was heavily populated with troops, regulars and an estimated 1,000 irregular Fedayeen or security forces. They were units of the Iraqi 51st Division, which had maintained a presence in Basra since crushing the Shia rebellion there after the 1991 Gulf War." Desert Rats, John Parker, p. ? Hachette, 2013〕 While elements of the Parachute Regiment cleared the 'old quarter' of the city that was inaccessible to vehicles. Entering Basra had only been achieved after two weeks of conflict, which included the biggest tank battle of the war by British forces when the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks on 27 March. ==Background== Basra is a city of more than one million people, located in Southern Iraq. To military and economic planners, it represents a strategic objective because it sits near a port that provides access from inland Iraq to the Persian Gulf. The area around Basra itself produces much of Iraq's oil, which is processed at a local refinery. To the south-east is Rumaila oil field, which by itself contains billions of barrels worth of crude oil—14% of the world supply.〔Jonathan Finer, “(Key oil field falls to Marines )”, ''The Age'', 23 March 2003.〕 To the north-east is the West Qurna Field, the second-largest oil field in the world. Britain captured Basra from the Ottoman Empire in 1914 and suppressed an Arab revolt there in 1941.〔Richard Norton-Taylor, Ewen MacAskill, Terry Macalister and Rory McCarthy, “(British elite troops push towards Basra )”, ''The Guardian'', 20 March 2003.〕 The city was a major target during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and was bombed by the US in the 1991 Gulf War. Basra was the site of a 1991 uprising to overthrow Saddam Hussein after the US had driven the Iraqi Army from Kuwait. Residents became embittered when support promised by the US did not materialize. Basra then suffered from years of sanctions and bombing, as well as bad treatment from Hussein. An Iraqi living in exile said in 2001: "Iraqis think Saddam is America's man. These people are not going to forget what has happened to them. In their eyes, it is genocide. And people do not forget genocide."〔Chuck Sudetic, “( The Betrayal of Basra )”, ''Mother Jones'', November/December 2001.〕〔 The population of Basra saw a dramatic increase in birth defects and childhood cancer during the 1990s; these illnesses and others were blamed on US depleted uranium munitions used in 1991.〔 Sanctions compounded the problem by blocking access to medical equipment and increasing the price of supplies.〔〔Robert Hirschfield, “( An Arab-American Priest, Depleted Uranium, and Iraq )”, ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'', November 2005.〕 The United States bombed Basra routinely throughout the 1990s and leading up to the Iraq War.〔Jeremy Scahill, “( Report from Basra: Iraq's Oil Belt Prepares for War )”, ''Iraq Journal'', 3 November 2002.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Basra (2003)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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