Iraq establishes new Desert Operations Command

Lt Gen Yarallah arrives at Al-Lasaf airfiled to visit newly deployed soldiers from the 87th Commando Brigade. (Iraqi Ministry of Defence)

Iraq has established a new regional operations command to cover the southern desert extending to the Saudi border.

While the Iraqi Ministry of Defence (MoD) has not explicitly announced the formation of Desert (Al-Bardiah) Operations Command, it began to refer to it on 20 August, when it released a statement saying its commander, Major General Imad Obeid al-Maliki, had inspected Al-Salman district, which is in the southern desert of Al-Muthanna governorate. Maj Gen Maliki was previously the commander of Eastern Salah al-Din Operations Command.

On 27 August, the MoD released a video to illustrate an announcement that 117 mobile shelters – enough to house about 700 soldiers – were being moved from Al-Baghdadi Base to the Desert Operations Command in Al-Muthanna and Al-Najaf governorates.

Chief of the Armed Forces Staff Lieutenant General Abdul-Amir Rashid Yarallah visited Desert Operations Command for the first time on 7 September, when the MoD said he met soldiers from the 3rd Regiment of the 87th Infantry Brigade.

A sign seen in the video the MoD released to show the visit clarified that the soldiers were from the 87th Commando Brigade, which was previously assigned to Eastern Salah al-Din Operations Command.

“Your presence is a message of reassurance to everyone and also a message of reassurance to neighbouring countries ,” Lt Gen Yarallah told the soldiers. He also referred to other regiments that have been deployed and said more permanent camps would be built in the future.