Battle of Karbala (6 marzo 1991 anni – 11 marzo 1991 anni)

Descrizione:

There was great hope that the Saddam's regime would not be able to quell this rebellion without air power, which was blocked by the coalition forces as a condition of Gulf War ceasefire. However, U.S. forces did not prevent Saddam from using overwhelming force to suppress the uprising. Karbala suffered severe artillery shelling and rebel holdouts were attacked with helicopter gunships, despite the official declaration of Iraqi no-fly zones.

Iraqi Republican Guard encountered resistance as soon as they entered the city. As a result of the mostly-Sunni Republican Guard's resentment of the Shiites, it was said that the tanks bore placards saying, "No More Shia After Today." The main targets included the main Shia shrines and the al-Husseini hospital. At the hospital, doctors treated the wounded while people continually rushed in to donate blood and medicine, despite the concentrated shelling from the loyalist forces on the city outskirts. The rebels put up a stiff resistance in defending the hospital. Once it fell, the army rounded up doctors, nurses, and took them away for execution. Patients were thrown out of windows and reports surfaced of bulldozers burying bodies on the hospital grounds.

Throughout the counterattack, voices could be heard on loudspeakers at the shrines of Abbas and Hussein, directing orders for the insurgency to attack the Republican Guard. In the closing days of the uprising, the shrines were heavily damaged by artillery and rocket fire from helicopters. Many rebels and their civilian sympathizers barricaded themselves into the buildings. Video recordings show the people dancing in euphoria and calling for the aid of America and Iran, which never came. Once the loyalist forces surrounded the shrine, the leader of the assault and a henchman of Saddam, Kamal Hussein Majid, stood on a tank and shouted: "Your name is Hussein and so is mine. Let us see who is stronger now." He then gave the order to open fire on the shrine.[2] After blowing down the doors, the Guard rushed in and killed a majority of those inside with automatic weapons fire.

Once in control of the city, the army encircled each district looking for young men. At first they shot whomever they saw. After a day or so, they arrested every male over the age of 15. Shia clerics found walking on the streets were rounded up and never seen again. Dead bodies were mined and they were not allowed to be removed from the streets. Helicopter gunships on the outskirts reportedly strafed civilians fleeing the city as well.

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