Fedayeen

Fedayeen Saddam, irregular soldiers loyal to the former Iraqi Ba'athist regime.

Fedayeen Saddam was a paramilitary organization loyal to the former Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein. The name means "Saddam's Men of Sacrifice" and was chosen to imply a conceptual relationship with the Palestinian guerillas termed Fedayeen who operated primarily from Israel's founding into the 1950s. At its height, the group had 30,000-40,000 members.

The Fedayeen Saddam was not part of Iraq's regular armed forces but rather operated as a paramilitary unit of irregular forces. The Fedayeen reported directly to the Presidential Palace, rather than through the army chain of command. The Fedayeen were not an elite military force, often having been poorly trained and without heavy weapons.

The Fedayeen were among the most loyal organizations to the government of Saddam Hussein and were a politically reliable force against domestic opponents. The Fedayeen conducted widespread campaigns of assassination and intimidation's, as well as organized smuggling and other illegal efforts along Iraq's borders. They committed some of the most brutal acts while the Ba'athist regime was in power in Iraq.

The Fedayeen has been reported to operate a death squad that conducted extra-judicial killings. The Fedayeen were widely reported to have conducted an alleged anti-prostitution campaign in which more than 200 women were beheaded. Many of the victims were charged to have been political opponents rather than prostitutes.

Uday Hussein formed the Fedayeen Saddam in 1995 with ten to fifteen thousand recruits, typically young men living in central Iraq, the regions most loyal to the Ba'ath Party.[citation needed] Uday used the Fedayeen for personal reasons such as smuggling[citation needed] and suppressing opponents. Command of the militia was handed to Qusay Hussein in 1996 when it was uncovered that Uday was diverting weapons to the militia from the Iraqi Republican Guard.

Before Saddam was removed from power, the force was placed back under Uday's control. The deputy commander of the Fedayeen Saddam was Staff Lieutenant General Mezahem Saab Al Hassan Al-Tikriti. In 1998 the Ashbal Saddam (Saddam's Lion Cubs) was created to recruit and train young children for membership in the Fedayeen. The Ashbal recruited boys aged 10 to 15 for training in small arms and infantry tactics as well as loyalty conditioning.

2003 invasion of Iraq

The Fedayeen Saddam did not rise to major international attention, however, until the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S.-led coalition forces. Whereas the Iraqi forces and the Republican Guard quickly collapsed, Fedayeen forces put up stiff and often fanatical resistance to the coalition invasion. U.S. strategy was to bypass other cities and head straight to Baghdad. In response, Fedayeen fighters entrenched themselves in the cities and launched guerilla-style strikes on rear supply convoys attempting to sustain the rapid advance. The Fedayeen also used intimidation to strengthen the resolve of the Iraqi army and keep civilians from rebelling. The multinational coalition was forced to turn its attention to the slow task of rooting out irregular forces from the southern cities, delaying the advance by two weeks.

During the invasion, Fedayeen fighters wielded AK-47 assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades, machine guns, and truck-mounted artillery and mortars. They made extensive use of subterfuge in an attempt to blunt the overwhelming technological advantage enjoyed by the invading forces. The irregular fighters often wore civilian clothes to confuse coalition forces, and falsely surrendered as a pretext for ambushing advancing multinational soldiers, among other incidents.

By the end of the first week of April, Coalition forces had mostly succeeded in rooting out Fedayeen forces from the southern cities. The Shiite population was very unsupportive of the fighters, although many were intimidated. This factor, coupled with overwhelming firepower, quickly gave U.S. forces in the area a decisive edge. This reduced the pressure on the stretched supply lines, enabling the advance to continue. On April 9, Baghdad fell to American forces with only sporadic resistance by Fedayeen irregulars, foreign volunteers, and remnants of the Special Republican Guard, effectively ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. Tikrit, the last city to fall, was taken on April 15.

The fall of Baghdad effectively ended the existence of the Fedayeen Saddam as an organized paramilitary. Several of its members died during the war. A large number survived, however, and were willing to carry on the fight even after the fall of Saddam Hussein from power. Many former members joined guerilla organizations, collectively known as the Iraqi insurgency that began to form to resist the U.S-led occupation. By June, an insurgency was clearly underway in the central and northern Iraq, especially in an area known as the Sunni Triangle. Some units of the Fedayeen also continued to operate independently of other insurgent organizations in the Sunni areas of Iraq. On November 30, 2003, a U.S. convoy traveling through the town of Samarra in the Sunni Triangle was ambushed by over 100 Iraqi guerillas, reportedly wearing trademark Fedayeen Saddam uniforms. Exactly how much influence they have in the resistance, especially following Saddam Hussein's capture on December 13, 2003, is a source of controversy.