ROYAL Marine Commandos  have been at the heart of the largest operation by British forces in Basra since the Saddam regime was toppled nearly four years ago.

Iraq’s great southern city was ‘locked down’ as British and Iraqi forces sealed off the heart of the port to put a stop to smuggling, insurgency and other criminal activity under Operation Troy.

While troops established a 72-hour cordon in the city itself, green berets of 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines ensured an equally potent ‘line’ was drawn in the Shatt Al Arab and the manifold canals which run off the waterway and give Basra the title ‘Venice of the Middle East’.

The squadron deployed its new powerful ‘gunboat’, the ORC or Offshore Raiding Craft, alongside patrol boats from the Iraqi Coast Guard Inland Waterways Department, to conduct searches of traffic on the river.

All traffic approaching Basra by road or water was stopped and searched – the labyrinthine canal network in particular is regarded by intelligence analysts as a highway for criminals and rogue militia groups to move men and material.

Ashore, 1,200 soldiers from Britain’s 19 Light Brigade and 2,000 officers and men from the Iraqi Security Forces set up roadblocks on eight principal routes into and out of Basra.

Iraqi and British troops also closed the border with Iran, and surged into the more notorious districts of Basra to carry out a series of searches for suspicious vehicles.

“We see Troy as another step along the way towards Iraqi authorities taking responsibility for the security of Basra,” said Capt Ollie Pile of 19 Light Brigade.
“This was a large-scale operation with Iraqi and multi-national Forces working together for the greater good of the people of Basra.”

Troy was the first security operation on this scale involving Iraqi troops in the south of the country.

The Royals of 539, based in Plymouth, have been conducting regular patrols on the Shatt Al Arab (which means Coast of the Arabs), where they have been tutoring the Iraqi Coast Guard in the art of waterway security.

Troy coincided with a similar large-scale operation in Baghdad by US and Iraqi forces as part of the wider security plan for the country, Operation Imposing Justice.